The “Flying Whale”

thejivebombers Army Air Corps & Army Air Service March 7, 2023 1 Minute

B-10B of the 31st Bomb Squadron roars into Boeing Field in 1936.

Still wearing its flight to Alaska markings from the previous year, a B-12A coasts in to Boeing Field, August 7, 1935.

Another B-12A arrives at Boeing Field on the same date.

B-10B of the 11th Bomb Squadron, Boeing Field, July 1936.

August 1936, and another B-10B arrives at Boeing Field.

Martin’s revolutionary bomber attracted instant attention everywhere it went. (Once again, Boeing Field, and once again, August 1936.

B-10B of the 11th Bomb Squadron.

This B-10B seen at Boeing Field wears the markings of the 7th Bomb Group and was the personal plane of LtCol. Clarence Tinker. (Again, the photo’s location is Boeing Field)

Bolling Field.

Aircraft of the 9th Bomb Group, Mitchel Field, NY.

Same aircraft as before. Below them is the Hudson River and the George Washington Bridge.

Despite its unflattering name, the Martin B-10/12 was an absolutely outstanding aircraft for its time. This is especially so when one considers the bombers it replaced: The Keystone series with its (standard for the period) fabric-covered, open cockpit and double-winged aircraft. Whereas most aircraft eased into the transition from the earlier designs (thinking of the P-26), Martin dispensed with the in-between and went next generation.

Published by thejivebombers

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Published March 7, 2023

4 thoughts on “The “Flying Whale””

Joe Miller says:

March 8, 2023 at 4:36 am

Always love seeing this aircraft at the USAF museum at Dayton! The bright blue fuselage (pre-war colors of course) just before the WW2 aircraft. Even as a young boy, I knew this meant a ‘big change’ was coming…

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1. thejivebombers says:
  
  March 8, 2023 at 10:30 am
  
  I dream of the day I find a warehouse filled with Kodachrome slides taken at a military airshow in the late 1930s.
  
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Frances Jones says:

March 12, 2023 at 5:10 pm

I’m wondering if the Martin B-10/12 was really that great of an aircraft, especially considering its predecessors. I’m thinking specifically of the Keystone bombers. Were they really that bad?

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1. thejivebombers says:
  
  March 12, 2023 at 5:04 pm
  
  Thanks for being here. So, was the Keystone series all that bad? I’m a huge fan of the Keystones. They were state of the art for the 1920s, but were rather dated by the time the B-10 emerged on the scene. The contrast is in the technology: The B-10 was such a dramatic leap in design that it immediately left its predecessors as a relic of the past. One can easily argue that the famous B-10 flight to Alaska in 1934 would have been extremely difficult in a Keystone. The fact they never tried it speaks much about the technological leap and enhanced mission capabilities brought forth by the B-10.
  
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