Martin 4-0-4

Martin 4-0-4
The last airworthy Martin 404 in Pacific Air Lines markings in January 2008 just a few weeks before the last flight of the type.
Role	short/medium range airliner
Manufacturer	Glenn L. Martin Company
First flight	1950
Introduction	1951
Primary users	Eastern Air Lines Trans World Airlines
Produced	1947-1953
Number built	103
Developed from	Martin 2-0-2

The Martin 4-0-4 is an American pressurized passenger airliner built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. As well as airline use initially in the United States, it was used by the United States Coast Guard and United States Navy as the RM-1G (later as the VC-3A).

Design and development

When production of the earlier Martin 2-0-2 was stopped due to problems with wing structural failure the company decided to re-wing an improved version (which had already flown as the Martin 3-0-3). The new aircraft was the Martin 4-0-4, it had structural changes to the wings, pressurization and lengthened slightly to take 40 passengers. Like the earlier 2-0-2, the 4-0-4 was a cantilever monoplane with a standard tail unit (cantilever tailplane and single vertical stabilizer). It had an airstair in the lower tail section for passenger loading and unloading, retractable tricycle landing gear and was powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-2800-CB16 radial piston engines.

Operational history

United States Coast Guard RM-1 in 1958

First deliveries in 1951 were made to Eastern Air Lines (EAL) who had ordered 60 and Trans World Airlines (TWA) who had ordered 40. The only other new aircraft from the production line were delivered to the United States Coast Guard who had ordered two as executive transports with the designation RM-1G later changed to RM-1 and then in 1962 to VC-3A. In 1969 they were transferred to the United States Navy and they had both been withdrawn from use by 1970. A total of 103 aircraft was built at the Glenn L. Martin factory in Baltimore.

TWA operated their 40 4-0-4s under the name "Skyliner" on scheduled services in the eastern part of the USA between 1 September 1950 and the last flight on 29 April 1961.^[1]. EAL operated their 4-0-4s in the eastern USA using the class name "Silver Falcon". The first EAL schedule was flown on 5 January 1952 and retirement came in late 1962.^[2]

Later in their airline career, as they became displaced from the EAL and TWA fleets by turbine-powered aircraft, the 4-0-4s became popular with "second level" operators who needed to replace their Douglas DC-3s.^[3] One of the last 'major' US airlines with a large fleet of piston engined airliners was Southern Airways who operated 25 model 4-0-4s on a network of scheduled services from Atlanta as at July 1969, mainly ex-Eastern Airlines aircraft.^[4]. Southern Airways' last 4-0-4 service was flown on 30 April 1978.^[5]

In February 2008 the last airworthy 4-0-4, an ex TWA aircraft, was ferried to the Planes of Fame Museum in Valle, AZ. ^[6]

A restored and potentially airworthy 4-0-4 is at the Airline History Museum in Kansas City.

Operators

Civil

An Eastern Airlines Martin 404 circa 1955

 Bolivia

 Colombia

• Aero Proveedora Proa Ltda

 Dominican Republic

• Dominair
• Santiago Freighters

 Haiti

 Mexico

 Panama

 United States

• Air South
• Atlantic Southeast Airlines (1972-1979)
• Eastern Airlines (1951-1962)
• Florida Airlines (1977-1981)
• Marco Island Airways (1973-1981)
• Mohawk Airlines (1961-1965)
• Pacific Air Lines (1959-1968)
• Ozark Air Lines (1964-1967)
• Pacific Air Lines
• Piedmont Airlines (1961-1972)
• Provincetown-Boston Airlines (1975-1984)
• Southeast Airlines (1971-1976)
• Southern Airways (1961-1978)
• Trans World Airlines (1950-1961)

 Venezuela

• Rentavion

Military

 United States

• United States Coast Guard
• United States Navy

Notable accidents and incidents

• 19 February, 1955: TWA Flight 260 crashed into the Sandia Mountains, killing the three crew and 13 passengers.
• 1 April, 1956: TWA Flight 400 crashed on takeoff from Greater Pittsburgh International Airport, 22 of the 36 people aboard the aircraft died.
• 2 July 1963: Mohawk Airlines Flight 121 crashed during takeoff from Rochester-Monroe airport, killing seven people and injuring 36.
• 2 October, 1970: In the Wichita State University Crash, a charter flight crashed near Silver Plume, Colorado killing 31 of the 40 people onboard.

Specifications

Data from ^[7]

General characteristics

• Crew: 3 or 4
• Capacity: 40
• Length: 74 ft 7 in (22.73 m)
• Wingspan: 93 ft 3 in (28.42 m)
• Height: 28 ft 5 in (8.66 m)
• Wing area: 864 ft² (80.27 m²)
• Empty weight: 29,126 lb (13,211 kg)
• Gross weight: 44,900 lb (20,366 kg)
• Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-2800-CB16 radial piston engine, 2,400 hp (1,790 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 312 mph (502 km/h)
• Range: 1,080 miles (1,783 km)
• Service ceiling: 29,000 ft (8,840 m)

See also

Related development

• Martin 2-0-2
  

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Convair 240
• Airspeed Ambassador
  

Related lists

• List of military aircraft of the United States
• List of military aircraft of the United States (naval)
  

References

Notes

1. ^ Killion 1997, pp. 148–149.
2. ^ Killion 1997, pp. 133–134.
3. ^ Killion 1997, p. 67.
4. ^ Sievers 1969, p. 25.
5. ^ Killion 1997. p. 147.
6. ^ Airliner World, July 2008, p. 80
7. ^ The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft 1985, p. 2415.

Bibliography

• Andrade, John. U.S. Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909. Leicester, UK: Midland Counties Publications, 1979, pp. 95, 217. ISBN 0-904597-22-9.
• Breslau, Alan Jeffry The Time Of My Death: Story of Miraculous Survival (E. P. Dutton, New York 1977} The July 2, 1963 crash of Mowhawk Airlines in Rochester, New York.
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). London: Orbis Publishing, 1985.
• Killion, Gary L. The Martinliners. Sandpoint ID: Airways International Inc., 1997. ISBN 0-9653993-2-X.
• Sievers, Harry. North American Airline Fleets. Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1969. ISBN 0-85130-005-7.
• Smith, M.J. Jr. Passenger Airliners of the United States, 1926–1991. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, 1986. ISBN 0-933126-72-7.

External links

• Martin Airliners - Maryland Aviation Museum
• Martin 202/404 Census - oldprops.ukhome.net (photos and history also on site)
• Many detailed close-up photographs of a restored Martin 4-0-4
• Aviation Safety Network
• Federal Aviation Authority Type Certificate for the Martin 404