Martin B-10 - Legacy

Legacy

At the time of its creation, the B-10B was so advanced that General Henry H. Arnold described it as the air power wonder of its day. It was 1.5 times as fast as any biplane bomber, and faster than any contemporary fighter. The B-10 began a revolution in bomber design; it made all existing bombers completely obsolete.

However, the rapid advances in bomber design in the 1930s meant that the B-10 was eclipsed by the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Douglas B-18 Bolo before the United States entered World War II. The B-10's obsolescence was proved by the quick defeat of B-10B squadrons by Japanese Zeros during the invasions of the Dutch East Indies and China.

An abortive effort to modernize the design, the Martin Model 146 was entered into a USAAC long-distance bomber design competition 1934–1935, lost out to the Douglas B-18 and revolutionary Boeing B-17. The sole prototype was so similar in profile and performance to the Martin B-10 series that the other more modern designs easily "ran away" with the competition.