The Martin T4M was an American

torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the World War I, First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carryin ...

of the 1920s. A development by the

Glenn L. Martin Company The Glenn L. Martin Company, also known as The Martin Company from 1917 to 1961, was an American aircraft and aerospace industry, aerospace manufacturing company founded by aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Company produced many impo ...

of their earlier Martin T3M, and, like it a single-engined

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

, the T4M served as the standard torpedo bomber aboard the

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

s of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

through much of the 1930s.

Development and design

The Martin Model 74 was designed and developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company as a result of testing of the experimental

radial Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Mathematics and Direction * Vector (geometric), a line * Radius, adjective form of * Radial distance (geometry), a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system * Radial set * A ...

-engined developments of the Martin T3M, the XT3M-3 and XT3M-4. The resulting prototype, designated XT4M-1, first flew in April 1927,Swanborough and Bowers 1976, p.311 and was purchased by the U.S. Navy for further evaluation.Grossnick 1995, p.508. The XT4M-1 had new single-bay fabric-covered metal wings of shorter span than the wooden wings of the T3M.Taylor 1981, p.93. It was powered by a Pratt & Whitney Hornet, (as used by the XT3M-3), and was fitted with a revised rudder. The fuselage was similar to that of the T3M-2, and like the earlier aircraft, could be fitted with either a wheeled undercarriage or floats. As a result of the successful trials, the U.S. Navy ordered 102 similar production aircraft from Martin as the T4M-1 on June 30, 1927. Martin sold their

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

factory, which had built the T4M, to the

Great Lakes Aircraft Company Great Lakes Aircraft Company is an aircraft manufacturer known for the 2T-1A Sport Trainer biplane. The company has a long history of building both private and military aircraft. Origins In 1929, the Great Lakes Aircraft Company (GLAC) was for ...

in October 1928, which resulted in Great Lakes receiving an order for 18 aircraft with slightly modified undercarriages as the TG-1.Swanborough and Bowers 1976, p.312 On 2 July 1930, the U.S. Navy placed an order for 32 aircraft, powered by a more powerful

Wright Cyclone Wright Cyclone was the name given to a family of air-cooled radial piston engines designed by the Wright Aeronautical Corporation and used in numerous American aircraft in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Background The Wright Aeronautical Corporatio ...

radial engines with the

Detroit Aircraft Corporation The Detroit Aircraft Corporation was incorporated in Detroit, Michigan on July 10, 1922, as the Aircraft Development Corporation. The name was changed in 1929. The Detroit corporation owned the entire capital stock of the Ryan Aircraft Corp., Air ...

, as the TE-1. Detroit, however, passed the order to Great Lakes, which by this time was a subsidiary, and the aircraft were built as TG-2s.

Operational history

Deliveries of the T4M to the U.S. Navy started in August 1928, replacing T3M-2s aboard the

s and . Deliveries continued until 1931. While its predecessor, the T3M, spent much of its time operating from floats, by the time the T4M and TG entered service, the U.S. Navy had realised the greater versatility of the aircraft carrier, and the T4Ms and TGs were mainly operated with wheeled undercarriages from the decks of carriers. The capability of carrier-based air power was demonstrated in fleet exercises in January 1929, when aircraft from ''Saratoga'', including T4Ms, carried out mock attacks on the Panama Canal. Despite a defending force including ''Lexington'' and shore-based Navy and

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

aircraft, the strike force was judged to have "destroyed" the canal locks as well as airfields. The exercise was described as "the most brilliantly conceived and most effectively executed naval operation in our history" by

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

William V. Pratt, who later became Commander-in-Chief of the United States Fleet.Polmar 2004, p41-43 The T4M was unusual in that its slab-sided fuselage was large enough to allow flight crews to get up and move around between positions. It was so spacious that a man could nearly stand up within it. Of its flying qualities, one pilot was quoted as saying "It takes off, cruises, and lands at 65 knots 20 km/hr; 75 mph. The T4M and TG proved difficult to replace, with both the XT6M and XT3D being evaluated but failing to demonstrate sufficient improvement to justify purchase.Johnson 2014, p. 30 They remained in service until 1938, being eventually replaced by the

TBD Devastator The Douglas TBD Devastator is a retired American torpedo bomber of the United States Navy. Ordered in 1934, it first flew in 1935 and entered service in 1937. At that point, it was the most advanced aircraft flying for the Navy, being the firs ...

and becoming the last biplane torpedo bomber of the U.S. Navy.

Variants

Great_Lakes_Commercial_Aero_Digest_April_1929

;XT4M-1 :Prototype. Powered by 525 hp (392 kW)

Pratt & Whitney R-1690 The Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet was a widely used American aircraft engine. Developed by Pratt & Whitney, 2,944 were produced from 1926 through 1942. It first flew in 1927. It was a single-row, 9-cylinder air-cooled radial design. Displaceme ...

-24 engine. One built. ;T4M-1 :Initial production version by Martin, powered by R-1690-24 engine. 102 built. ;TG-1 :Version with slightly modified undercarriage, powered by 525 hp (392 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1690-28 engine. 18 built by Great Lakes. ;TG-1 Commercial :Civil version of TG-1. Two built. ;TG-2 :Version powered by 620 hp (463 kW)

Wright R-1820 The Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 is an American radial engine developed by Curtiss-Wright, widely used on aircraft in the 1930s through 1950s. It was produced under license in France as the Hispano-Suiza 9V or Hispano-Wright 9V, and in the Soviet Uni ...

-86 Cyclone. 32 built by Great Lakes (originally ordered as TE-1).

Operators

; *

United States Marines Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...

Johnson 1977, p.107. *

Specifications (T4M-1)

References

;Citations ;Bibliography *Angelucci, Enzo (ed.). ''World Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft.'' London: Jane's, 1981. . * Donald, David (editor). ''The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft''. Aerospace Publishing. 1997. . * Grossnik, Roy A.
Dictionary of American Naval Aviation Squadrons: Volume 1 The History of VA, VAH, VAK, VAL, VAP and VFA Squadrons
'. Washington DC: Naval Historical Centre, 1995. . * Johnson, Edward C.
Marine Corps Aviation: The Early Years 1912-1940
'. Washington DC: U.S. Marine Corps, 1977. * Johnson, E.R
"United States Naval Aviation, 1919-1941: Aircraft, Airships and Ships Between the Wars"
McFarland. 2014. * Melton USNR, Lt. Comdr. Dick. ''the Forty Year Hitch''. Wyandotte, Michigan: Publishers Consulting Services, 1970 * Polmar, Norman. ''Historic Naval Aircraft: From the Pages of Naval History Magazine''. Washington, D.C. : Brassey's, 2004. . * Swanborough, Gordon and Bowers, Peter M. ''United States Navy Aircraft since 1911''. London:Putnam, Second edition 1976. . * Taylor, M.J.H. ''Warplanes of the World: 1918-1939''. Shepperton, Surrey, UK: Ian Allan, 1981. .

External links

{{USN torpedo aircraft Martin T04M T4M Single-engined tractor aircraft Carrier-based aircraft Biplanes Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft