US MARTINLINERS - 1970s

A selection of my photographs of Martin 202 and Martin 404 airliners seen in USA in the late 1970s

The Martin 404's graceful design and wing dihedral are seen as N967M taxies at Marco Island, Florida in October 1977

N93205 was the only example of the few surviving early model Martin 202s I came across, at Opa Locka, Florida October 1979.
It was undergoing maintenance for its owner, a small charter operator named Martin Air Transport of Miami

Martin 404 N471M at Honolulu in September 1979, one of three recently ferried to Hawaii from the US mainland for a proposed
new low-cost inter-island passenger service planned by DHL Island Airways, which flew DC-6s from Honolulu on freight services
Another DHL Island Airways Martin 404 N465M at Honolulu in September 1979.  The planned passenger service in competition with
established jet airlines Hawaiian and Aloha was not approved and the three Martins were scrapped

Martin 404 N40419 at Fort Lauderdale Florida, October 1979 carried guests to the Royal Haitian Hotel on the island of Haiti

Martin 404 N40438 was on overhaul and paint-strip at Ryan Field near Tucson, Arizona in October 1977.
It had just been purchased by aviation entrepreneur Stan Booker from Kodiak Western Airways at Kodiak, Alaska.
N40438 was repainted in the colours of his charter company Nevada Airlines, which flew Grand Canyon tourist flights with Beech 18s.  
The Martin crashed on takeoff from Grand Canyon Airport in November 1979, injuring 10 of the 44 persons on board

 
Martin 404 N40409 taxying at Las Vegas, Nevada October 1979. It was one of a number of propliners operated on contract to the
US Atomic Energy Commission and US Army to carry personnel to restricted military weapons testing sites in the Nevada desert

Marco Island Airways operated six Martin 404s in 44-seat configuration on high-frequency services linking Miami
with the Marco Island residential and resort development on the Gulf of Mexico. 
The airline claimed their Martins moved 2,000 passengers a day during high season - winter in the northern US states. 
N968M built in 1952 for Eastern Airlines, seen taxying at Marco Island in October 1977

Shawnee Airlines used this bright colour scheme on its five Martin 404s on Florida intra-state routes until taken over by
Florida Airlines in 1977. Martin 404 N259S is seen at Fort Lauderdale on a stormy day in October 1977.
It went on to fly for many owners, becoming one the last Martins flying, with Save-A-Connie Inc and Classic Airways.


Shawnee Airlines held this former Piedmont Airlines Martin 404 at Fort Lauderdale to be stripped for parts.
N468M's faded Piedmont paintwork still had its name "Brazos River Pacemaker" under the cockpit

Another former Piedmont Airlines Martin 404 spares-ship, N40417 "Piedmont Pacemaker" sits forlornly at Miami Airport, Florida
in October 1977.  It is surrounded by the delights of Corrosion Corner on the NW 38th Street airfield boundary - all since cleared away

Several US aerial agricultural operators fitted out retired airline Martin 404s as aerial pesticide sprayers.
N470M formerly with Mohawk Airlines, was at Madera in central California in September 1977, being hosed down on return from
another fruit fly spraying mission. Note the two liquid hopper filling hatches on the fuselag roof.

Stored at Madera in 1977 were five other Martin 404s, held for fduture conversin to aertial sprayers

N40432 had been operated by several US travel clubs before being retired at Madera as a prospective sprayer.
However it was not tanked and continued as a passenger aircraft, ending its days with CAMBA in Bolivia in 1987

N40443 "Tidewater Pacemaker" had been tanked as sprayer with a single hopper-port on the roof for Dothan Aviation in 1970.
It continued as a sprayer until a takeoff crash at Buffalo, Wyoming on 27 June 1986, killing the three crew

The other stored Madera Martin 404s were former Piedmont Airlines aircraft.
N40445 "Potomac Pacemaker" had the titles of its last owner Dothan Aviation, an Alabama heavy-aerial sprayer contractor

Highly recommended is the THE MARTINLINERS by Gary K. Killion, published in 1998 by Airways International Inc.
Gary's career as an FAA airworthiness surveyor, intimately involved with the propliner era, allows him to write the definitive story
of Martin versus Convair and give detailed histories of all Martins and their operators. An excellent book.


More Convair pictures can be found in this series in PROPLINER FLIGHTS

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