The Martin Company
 |
|
| Industry | Aerospace |
|---|---|
| Fate | Merged with American-Marietta Corporation later merged into Lockheed Corporation |
| Successor |
Martin Marietta Lockheed Martin |
| Founded | 1912 |
| Founder | Glenn Luther Martin |
| Defunct | 1961 |
| Headquarters | Santa Ana, California |
| Products | Aircraft |
The Glenn L. Martin Company was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company that was founded by the aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Company produced many important aircraft for the defense of the United States and its allies, especially during World War II and the Cold War. Also, during the 1950s and 60s, the Martin Company moved gradually out of the aircraft industry and into the guided missile, space exploration, and space utilization industries.
In 1961, the Martin Company merged with the American-Marietta Corporation, a large sand and gravel mining company, forming the Martin Marietta Corporation. Then, in 1995, Martin Marietta merged with aerospace giant Lockheed to form the Lockheed Martin Corporation.
Glenn L. Martin Company was founded by aviation pioneer Glenn Luther Martin on August 16, 1912. Martin started out building military trainers in Santa Ana, California, and then in 1916, Martin accepted a merger offer from the Wright Company, creating the Wright-Martin Aircraft Company in September. This new company did not go well, and Glenn Martin left it to form a second Glenn L. Martin Company on September 10, 1917. This time it was based in Cleveland, Ohio. (Later, its headquarters would be moved to Baltimore, Maryland.)
In 1913 Mexican insurgents from the northwestern state of Sonora brought a single seater Martin Pusher biplane in Los Angeles with the intention to attack federal naval forces attacking the port of Guaymas. The aircraft was shipped on May 5, 1913 in five crates to Tucson, Arizona via Wells Fargo Express, and then moved through the border into Mexico to the town of Naco, Sonora. The aircraft, named "Sonora" by the insurgents, was reassembled there and fitted with a second seat for a bomber position.
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