U.S. #3142f
1997 32¢ Martin B-10
Classic American Aircraft
Issue Date: July 19, 1997
City: Dayton, OH
Quantity: 161,000,000
Printed By: Stamp Venturers
Printing Method: Photogravure
Perforations: 10.1
Color: Multicolored
The Martin Company is an old-timer in the relatively young aviation industry. As early as 1909 the company produced military bombers for the U.S. Army. And its MB twin-engine bomber of 1918, the first American bomber to sink a battleship, became a standard post-war type for several years. The company was even manufacturing all-metal airplanes for the Navy as early as 1922.
In 1932, the company produced a twin-engine, mid-wing monoplane bomber. Two years later, it began testing the use of Wright Cyclone engines and Pratt & Whitney Hornet engines. In 1935, the company finally came up with a winner – the B-10 (“B” designating bomber).
The B-10 was fitted with 740-horsepower Cyclone engines, Sperry automatic pilot, wing flaps, constant-speed propellers, and de-icers, as well as continuous cockpit enclosures. After adding a Browning machine gun in the nose turret and two in the rear cockpit, top and bottom, it was ready for wartime service.
The B-10 revolutionized bomber design both here and abroad. Its new features allowed pilots to hear more, see more, and do more. Best yet, its powerful engines allowed it to outfly the fastest U.S. fighters by 100 miles per hour – an important lifesaving feature.