Martin BM

The Martin BM was a 1930s American torpedo-bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company for the United States Navy.

Design and development
To meet the requirement for a special-purpose dive-bomber for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps the US Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics designed a biplane with fixed tailwheel landing gear. It had room for two crew in tandem. Two prototypes were ordered one from Martin (designated the XT5M-1) and one from the Naval Aircraft Factory (designated the XT2N-1).

The Martin XT5M-1 was powered by a 525 hp (391 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1690-22 Hornet radial engine and following test during 1930, the Navy ordered 12 aircraft from Martin with the designation BM-1. The BM-1 had a more powerful R-1690-44 engine. A further order for four was followed by an order for 16 for the BM-2.

Operational history
The first delivery to the United States Navy was in September 1931 with the first squadron VT-1S on board USS Lexington. In 1934 both the BM-1 and BM-2 were used on board the USS Langley until 1937 when all the aircraft were withdrawn to shore bases.

Variants

 * XT5M-1
 * Prototype with R-1690-2 engine, one built.


 * XT2N-1
 * Protoype built by Naval Aircraft Factory


 * BM-1
 * Production aircraft, 16 built.


 * BM-2
 * Production aircraft with minor changes, 16 built.

Operators

 * United States Navy
 * United States Navy