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Critics had claimed that the bomber would roll all the way to Dayton before it ever took off, but the aircraft became airborne after a 13-second, 960 ft (290 m) take off run. The flight lasted 28 minutes and reached an altitude of 2,000 ft (609 m). On 3 October 1924, the aircraft set a duration record of 1 hour 47 minutes for an aircraft "with 8,820 lbs (4,000 kgsuseful load". It also set a record in the same class for altitude with 4,470 ft (1,363 m). Although capable of carrying a 5,000 lb (2,300 kg) bomb load, it was soon discovered that the aircraft was seriously underpowered, and performance was disappointing. The overly complex structure of three wings and their accompanying struts and bracing wires created so much interference drag that the six engines could barely compensate. Fully loaded, the XNBL-1 had a range of only about 170 miles (270 km) with a top speed of 96 mph (155 km/h). In contrast, the "short-range" Martin NBS-1 had a range of about 450 miles (725 km) and could carry a 2,000 lb (900 kg) payload at the same speed. On a flight from Dayton, Ohio to a scheduled appearance at an air show in Washington, DC, the Barling Bomber failed to fly over the Appalachian Mountains and had to turn around.

Aviator Roy N. Francis next to the modified Martin MB-1 Bomber (Martin GMB-TA or "Martin GMT"; Air Service Serial No. A.S. 62949, Martin construction no. c/n 8) that he was to fly in an attempt of a one-stop (at North Platte, Nebraska) flight between New York and San Francisco in the summer of 1919. Unfortunately, on July 24, 1919, five days prior to the planned start of the flight, the aircraft was destroyed (see photo on Page 21 of cited journal below) when the hanger it was in at Hazelhurst Field (later Roosevelt Field), Mineola, was collapsed by a "cyclone, accompanyied by lightning" on that date. See: "U.S. Air Service," September 1919, "Coastal and Transcontinental Flights," Pages 21-22. For the details on the aircraft, see: Glenn L. Martin Aviation Museum - Martin Aircraft Specifications (1998)

ROY NEWELL FRANCIS
1886-1952
see also
and
www.earlyaviators.com/efrancis.htm

TVL1970 and Art Siegel: Thanks. We will include some of your details next time we update the description.

The New York Times in a page one story reported the cyclone that destroyed the Martin Bomber occurred on July 28, 1919, and the single stop transcontinental flight was to start four days later on August 1, 1919. [1] The Times references the July 24, 1919, date as the day "An army bombing plane [Martin Bomber] carrying a crew of five, commanded by Lieut. Col. R.S. Hartz, left the ground here [Washington, DC] at 10 A.M. on the first leg of a flight of nearly 8,000 miles around the rim of the country." [2]

The aircraft is Curtiss P-1A A.S. 26-297.