gmb

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]

Great picture. Congrats!

See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_MB-1

Given the aircraft, the patches of grass around it, positions of the propellers, etc., this is apparently a photo of the same modified Martin MB-1 Bomber (Martin GMB-TA or "Martin GMT"; Air Service Serial No. A.S. 62949, c/n 8) taken contemporaneously as this photo with aviator Roy N. Francis. www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/33493219665/

Thanks swanq and TVL1970. We'll add the information about the plane to this catalog record also.

Martin MB-1 Bomber-variant, Martin GMB-G (Air Service Serial No. S.C. 39056, P-88) that was used in the 9,823-mile "Around the Rim" US flight, between July 24, 1919 and November 9, 1919. Here's the very same aircraft (P-88) in the SDASM photostream from the Lowry collection: www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/13984929250/

Here's a photo of the same Martin MB-1 (P-88) in the SDASM Flickr photostream as part of the Warren Samuel Eaton collection: