MARTIN

The Glenn L. Martin Company, formerly known as The Martin Company from 1957 to 1961, was an American aerospace and aircraft manufacturing company founded by Glenn L. Martin. The company was in operation from 1917 to 1961, producing several vital aircraft for the defense of the US and its allies during World War II and the Cold War. The Martin Company also expanded its operations into the guided missile, space exploration, and space utilization industries during the 1950s and ’60s. In 1961, the company merged with American-Marietta Corporation to form the Martin Marietta corporation. This company, in turn, merged with Lockheed Corporation in 1995 to form the Lockheed Martin corporation. Glenn L. Martin Company’s origins date to 1912 when Glenn Luther Martin founded the company to manufacture military training aircraft in Santa Ana, California. The company went through a merger with the Wright Company before Glenn Martin left to form a second Glenn L. Martin Company in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1917. The Martin Company gained recognition during World War I, delivering planes to the Dutch East Indies for military use. Additionally, during the Mexican Revolution, the company’s single-seater Martin Pusher biplane, named Sonora, was used by Mexican insurgents for bombing runs against federal naval forces, marking the first known air-to-naval bombing runs in history.