Saturday, June 17, 2006

More on the RAF bombing offensive in the fall of 1941 and the Martin Maryland


In August and September 1941, Wellingtons flying from Egypt hit the Corinth Canal with the aim of blocking it. At the time, it had been thought that they had succeeded, but we now know that they had not been able to block the canal.



Both Derna and Bardia were bombed frequently. At night, they were hit by Wellingtons and Fairey Albacores and in the daytime, they were hit by Blenheims and Marylands. The Maryland was playing a greater bombing role at this date, while they had previously had been restricted to maritime reconnaissance. They were a diminishing resource, however, as production had been limited. As I have previously written, this lists Maryland production:


Customer Martin
Designation Model Customer Production Initial Delivery
XA-22 167 US Army 1 prototype 9/28/1939
167-A3 167-F1 France 115 aircraft 12/12/1939
167-A3 167-F2 France 100 aircraft 2/08/1940
167-A3 Armoured 167-B3 France 45 aircraft 6/18/1940
Maryland I 167-B3 British RAF 50 aircraft ?
Maryland I 167-B3 British RAF 35 aircraft 7/25/1940
Maryland II 167-B4 British RAF 150 aircraft 4/14/1941

The successor aircraft was to be the Martin 187 Baltimore. Volume deliveries to the Middle East only happened in the Spring of 1942. This is based on the account in Vol.II of the Official History and from the Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum site.




This was apparently an early Maryland I, perhaps taking off.


These are some Maryland pages:
  1. Warbirds: The Martin Maryland
  2. RAF Museum: Maryland photo
  3. Wikipedia: A-22 Maryland
  4. The Glenn L Martin Maryland Aviation Museum: Martin Model 167

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