Glenn Luther Martin

Glenn Luther Martin (c1886-1955) of the Glenn L. Martin Co

1912 founded the Glenn L. Martin Company

1916 he merged his company with the original Wright Company, forming the Wright-Martin Aircraft Co.

1917 He soon left the merged company and founded a second Glenn L. Martin Company. That company merged with the American-Marietta Corporation in 1961, becoming the Martin Marietta Corporation. This company merged with the Lockheed Corporation in 1995, forming Lockheed Martin, a major U.S. aerospace and defense contractor.

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1955 Obituary

WE regret to record the death of Mr. Glenn Luther Martin, which occurred at Baltimore, on Sunday last, December 4th.

Mr. Martin, who was sixty-nine, built his first powered aircraft in 1908, when he was a garage owner, having already experimented with kites and gliders. It was a biplane with a Ford engine. Shortly afterwards, he organised one of the earliest aircraft factories, and in 1917 the Glenn L. Martin Company was founded at Cleveland, Ohio. With Martin there worked Lawrence D. Bell and Donald W. Douglas, founders of the firms that bear their names to-day.

The firm's Liberty engined bomber biplane was regarded as the first successful twin-engined design in the U.S.A., and was unusually fast for a contemporary heavy bomber.

Fifteen years later another twin-engined bomber, an all metal monoplane, left the Baltimore, Maryland, factory, marking a new level of performance for bomber aircraft. Other twin-engined aircraft, the "Maryland," "Baltimore" and "Marauder," saw service with the R.A.F. in World War II.

An early interest of Martin's was the seaplane, and a four-engined flying boat with sponsons became widely known in the Pan-American "Clipper" fleet. Later flying boats were the wartime "Mariner" and the "Mars." All these aircraft were designed and built while Martin was controlling the company: 1n 1949 he relinquished the position of manager, but remained on the board until his death.

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Sources of Information

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