PBA Fleet: Martin 4-0-4

The Martin 4-0-4 was an American pressurized passenger airliner built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. In addition to airline use initially in the United States, it was used by the United States Coast Guard and United States Navy as the RM-1G (later as the VC-3A).

When production of the earlier Martin 2-0-2 was stopped due to problems with wing structural failure the company decided to re-wing an improved version (which had already flown as the Martin 3-0-3). The new aircraft was the Martin 4-0-4. It had structural changes to the wings, pressurization and was lengthened slightly to take 40 passengers. Like the earlier 2-0-2, the 4-0-4 was a cantilever monoplane with a standard tail unit (cantilever tailplane and single vertical stabilizer). It had an airstair in the lower tail section for passenger boarding and disembarkation, retractable tricycle landing gear and was powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-2800-CB16 radial piston engines.

General Characteristics (M404)

Crew: 3 or 4
Capacity: 40 passengers
Length: 74 ft 7 in / 22.73 m
Wingstrong: 93 ft 3 in / 28.42 m
Height: 28 ft 5 in / 8.66 m
Wing area: 864 sq ft / 80.3 m²
Airfoil: GLM-W 16
Operating Empty weight (OEW): 29,126 lb / 13,211 kg
Max takeoff weight (MTOW): 44,900 lb / 20,366 kg

Performance (M404)

Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-2800-CB16 18-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial engine, 2,400 hp / 1,800 kW) each (take off power), 1,800 hp / 1,300 kW (normal power)
Propellers: 3-bladed Hamilton Standard 2H17K3-48R, 13 ft 2 in / 4.01 m diameter
Maximum speed: 312 mph / 502 km/h / 271 kts at 14,500 ft / 4,400 m
Cruise speed: 280 mph / 450 km/h / 240 kts at 18,000 ft / 5,500 m
Stall speed: 81 mph / 130 km/h / 70 kts at sea level
Range: 1,080 mi / 1,740 km / 940 nmi
Ferry range: 2,600 mi / 4,200 km / 2,300 nmi
Service ceiling: 29,000 ft / 8,800 m
Rate of climb: 1,905 ft/min / 9.68 m/s
Take-off distance to 50 ft / 15 m: 1,980 ft / 600 m

Three-View Drawing (M404)

The PBA Martin 4-0-4 Fleet

Photos of the entire fleet of Martin 4-0-4s are published below. Click on each of them for information and photos. Aircraft are sorted by Registration (N-Number) with prior registrations in parentheses where applicable.
If you would like to contribute any photos, scans, documents — then please contact us as we’d love to expand this site.