It Rewrote The Book On Bomber Design | Martin B-10

every now and then an aircraft comes along that redefines the standards from which all future types would be built in the case of american bomber design in the 1930s this would come in the form of the martin b10 by the end of the previous decade america's bomber force was starting to not only look outdated but unable to fulfill the requirements of a rapidly evolving air force all operational bombers were the tried and tested but slow by plane designs most of which were members of the keystone series and these were quickly showing their obsolescence sleek monoplane designs were already starting to appear in the commercial aviation sector particularly in europe but these had thus far struggled to gain favor in many military circles though the benefits of the monoplane had been demonstrated the us army and navy still required all military planes to be built as biplanes this was partly due to old school conservatism and partly because it was thought that their reliability made them cheaper in actuality the monoplane had become cheaper to both flight and maintain by 1929 but senior officers at the time didn't like being told that they were wrong eventually and sometimes with great reluctance it was accepted that the monoplane was the future and the army air corps began seeking designs for a new monoplane bomber this quickly resulted in the development of several experimental aircraft douglas came up with the gull winged xb7 developed the short-lived xb8 and boeing seemed to be the strongest contender when they produced the yb9 all of these were an improvement on previous biplane models but each design was a compromise of old thinking with new technology watching this from afar martin began work on a private venture of their own they had previously built bombers for the army air corps notably the successful mb2 of the mid-1920s and they now worked on a design not only to beat the competition but render them totally obsolete the prototype designated as the model 123 was a rapid departure from anything martin had developed before it was a sleek all-metal cantilever mid-wing monoplane of advanced construction the wing was built in three sections a center section built into the fuselage which carried the two engine nacelles in the leading edge and two detachable outer sections all of these had a structure of riveted aluminium with stress steel fittings and the whole lot was covered in a sleek stressed aluminium skin like the wing the all-metal fuselage was also built in three sections however its metal skin had a different arrangement the sides of the fuselage were covered in a smooth skin of stressed aluminium to deal with the sheer loads during flight whereas the top and bottom of the fuselage was clad in corrugated skin that could better handle compression loads unlike previous bomber designs which usually carried their drag juicing bombs under the wing or the fuselage the model 123 was the first to contain the entirety of its bomb load in an internal bombay this was not only a practical innovation but one for safety as well as carrying fused bombs within the plane usually had better safety margins than those stored externally it also allowed the bombardier control of when the bombs would be armed depending on the bomb type and fuse another featured innovation was the provision for a mechanically retractable landing gear which again was done for the sake of streamlining however like the internal bombay this would come at the cost of added weight and as such the bomber would be equipped with a pair of 600 horsepower wright sr 1820 cyclone engines keeping up with the trend this too was an innovation as the cyclone was still in its earliest stages of development and its successful use in the martin prototype was a contributing factor in it being used for many other aircraft of fame later on in its life the prototype was completed and delivered to the army on march the 20th 1932 who upon receiving it sent the plane to right field for evaluation at this point the aircraft was given the new designation of xb907 in its completed form it had a wingspan of just over 62 feet and with a new pair of streamlined engine cowlings it was expected to achieve a top speed of at least 190 miles an hour depending on what source is cited it either had a crew of three or four the point of debate is whether the prototype initially had provision for a co-pilot or not as it was later removed for the production model regardless of number all of the crew positions were open to the elements in this first design which considering the hoped for top speeds would have made for a frigid experience on that crisp march morning in central ohio frozen pilots aside the prototype performed better than expected during its first flights not only did it take off and land in a shorter distance than expected courtesy of modern split flaps but it also reached a top speed of 197 miles an hour at 6 000 feet in light of these promising figures the prototype was sent back for modifications in the autumn to further improve its capabilities the nose went through an extensive redesign which included the fitting of the first enclosed gun turret to ever be found on a us military aircraft this turret was manually rotated by the gunner and featured a single 30 caliber browning machine gun though it did somewhat reduce pilot to visibility for takeoff and landing it was believed that this was offset by the nose gunner themself who in a pinch could provide visual guidance though i can't imagine that would have been a particularly fun affair for anyone involved especially in poor weather other modifications included the change from the shorter town enduring cowlings to the more encompassing units an upgraded engine to the newest 675 horsepower version of the cyclone and the widening of the wingspan by a further eight feet though all of this added another two thousand pounds to the total weight of the aircraft it performed even better when it returned to right field in october 1932 reaching a new top speed of 207 miles an hour as a result of its outstanding performance the army air corps placed a production order for 48 bombers and purchased the original prototype redesignating it as the xb10 between that moment and the first deliveries of the production b10s some additional changes were made to the overall design it was accepted and in no small part thanks to some very vocal complaints that a plane flying over 200 miles an hour should not have open crew stations and so the pilot's cockpit and rio gunner station were finally enclosed the number of crew was also reduced to three at this point and the weight saved by ditching the co-pilot was used to allow the installation of radio equipment that would be used by the rear gunner various engine installations were made to the 48 units delivered for the initial production order the first 14 aircraft designated as the yb10 had a similar version of the cyclone engine that powered the first prototype and thus their overall performance was very similar most of the production order would be powered by a more powerful version giving out 775 horsepower and these units would be delivered as the b10b there was also an experimental model the yb10a this featured turbosupercharged versions of the engine that gave it an impressive top speed of 236 miles an hour at 25 000 feet however for various reasons mostly due to cost only one of these were to be built when it finally entered service the b10 was faster than any fighter currently operated by the us military and its advanced performance rendered all other bomber designs obsolete overnight domestically they would serve with numerous air groups both as a conventional bomber but also in some auxiliary roles in january of 1931 the army air corps assumed responsibility for coastal defense around the us mainland this was the source of considerable grumbling as this task had been the cherished prerogative of the us navy and the decision was made to adapt several models of the yb and b10 into the yb12 these aquatic conversions usually entailed the fitting of large floats for water use but for the northern regions there was also the use of a ski and wheel landing gear arrangement aside from this particular task the b10 sometimes found itself involved in events that caught the general eye of the public as well a notable example of this occurred in 1936 when a group of b10s were used to drop much needed supplies to island communities in the chesapeake bay these islands had been cut off after a particularly nasty winter storm which had iced up the bay to such a degree that sending in supplies by ship was impossible in response to a request by the red cross the 49th bomb group sent in several b6 and b10 bombers for a resupply mission landing directly on the islands was deemed too dangerous and so the planes conducted the supply equivalent of a bombing run sometimes dropping their supplies from a height of just 15 feet above the ground the b10s made headlines again later that spring when a flight of nine aircraft made several long distance flights from virginia to the panama canal though this was not done in one single leg with stops in miami and costa rica it did much to display the projection of us airpower as a result of its success the b10 was approved to be sold for export once martin's delivery contracts for the army had been completed and in august of 1936 an example of the b10 was demonstrated to foreign buyers as the model 139w unsurprisingly martin found several customers who were very keen to purchase eventually models would be sold to argentina china the netherlands the soviet union thailand and turkey most of these units were exported as various versions of the model 139 in general they were very similar with the main difference usually being a changing power plant the two biggest export customers for the b10 were argentina and the netherlands argentina would eventually operate 39 aircraft across its army and navy and the netherlands would operate 121 they would also be the only customer for the updated version of the xbox model dubbed the 166. this model was of the same basic design as the 139 but it featured a notable change to the cockpit layout instead of a separate pilot's cockpit and rear gunner station it now featured a long glass house style canopy along with this the nose and front turret fairing were modified to improve streamlining and the provision was made for additional bombs to be carried under the wing between the engines and the fuselage by the time the b10s actually saw combat they were already aircraft in production that surpassed them however because the b10 was so much of a leap forward compared to previous bomber designs the export models saw extensive use as they often steal outclassed the aircraft operated against them they got their trial by fire in 1937 when five chinese-operated b10s were flown on bombing raids against japanese ground forces around shanghai and nan king though their speed made them effective they were fielded in too few numbers to make a large impact and by the end of 1938 all of them had either been destroyed or damaged beyond repair the remaining combat experience of the b10 was mostly found in the service of thailand and the dutch east indies the latter forces seeing extensive operations against the invading forces of imperial japan operations varied between coastal patrol anti-submarine efforts and high-altitude bombing dutch-operated b-10s were sometimes used for low altitude missions as well but a mix of strong japanese anti-aircraft fire and some unfortunate friendly fire incidents soon put an end to that particular tactic though it was a losing battle the b10s played their part in holding up the japanese invasion as best they could especially when it came to the defense of sumatra as the end drew near many of them would be used for reconnaissance duties to spot incoming japanese attacks thanks to their high speed but by the end of 1942 java was almost completely surrounded several b10s were shot down by japanese fighters many more were destroyed on the ground and the few remaining models were either captured or scrapped after the allied forces had surrendered back home the b10 would remain in service with army bombardment squadrons until the arrival of the b-17 and b-18 in the late 1930s during this time an attempt was made to build on the success of the b10 and design a competitor against the new bombers the model 146 could easily be considered a fatter albeit more powerful version of the b10 but in reality it also featured a lot of brand new components besides being designed with a much longer range than the b10 it also featured improved engines fowler flaps and a new cockpit that once again allowed for a co-pilot though it was ultimately a failure the model 146 along with its more successful forebear taught the designers at martin many valuable lessons but surprisingly despite over 340 being built only a single example of the b10 survives today it's an export model originally operated by argentina and it can now be found at the national museum of the us air force in ohio by the time the last b10s were retired having served the royal thai air force until 1949 they had left a lasting legacy of the plane that reinvented american bomber design traces of the b-10s design can be seen in many famous us aircraft that were operated during the second world war and it directly influenced the design of martin's next and perhaps most famous fast bomber the b-26 marauder but that's a story for another day as always thank you all very much for watching and i'll catch you all next time goodbye [Music] you

Channel: Rex's Hangar

Views: 87,562

Keywords: martin b-10, air force museum, war thunder, glenn martin b10, b-10 bomber, martin aviation, glenn martin, martin b10, B-10 bomber, us air force, us army air corps, aviation, military history, rex's hangar, Rewriting The Book On Bomber Design, bomber design, united states, ww2 documentary, dutch east indies, pacific war, pearl harbor, ww2 bombers, ww2 planes, aircraft, ww2 aviation, revolutionary aircraft

Id: -MmIL52IkgI

Length: 15min 4sec (904 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 07 2022