Contemplating.

Contemplating.
Wayzata, Minnesota

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Sepia Saturday : 74 14 May 2011

Welcome friends, please do step aboard...I hope refreshments aren't real necessary for this flight....



Postcard from Florida!  Welcomes sun, fun and water-play around the MARTIN PBM MARINER
From the request of Alan at Sepia Saturday we find ourselves clutching our Passport and boarding pass in search of Gate 14……oh where or where is it?  Can you assist, or would you too just like to take pleasure in posting your own Sepia Saturday as you step back into the days of yesterdays so long ago!
Just go here
http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2011/05/sepia-saturday-74-saturday-14th-may.html




Our photo theme this week is of a brilliant-over-achiever, Glenn L. Martin who first turned his mother’s kitchen into a kite-factory and later turned an old Methodist church in Los Angeles, California into an airplane factory.   I'm totally serious!   Martin used the sails of kites as inspiration on everything from ice skates to wagons and even pushed his bicycle to move faster with very little effort. Effort and success were his middle names and a driving force to many accomplishments in his life.

You have heard of Lockheed Martin, Martin Marietta Corporation, or Wright-Martin Aircraft just to name a few….. haven't you?

Thank-goodness for postcards....one of my favorite pastimes is searching through old postcards, if only more of them were actually mailed and written on...

The MARTIN FLOATPLANES...Martin built his first pusher bi-plane in 1909 at the age of 23 and not to forget.....he took up exhibition flying at fairs and local airfields. 

 Glenn Martin's name and dreams made it big in advertising too.....with this fantastic ad
Luxury aloft in the MARTIN MARS Flying Hotel...better than a sleeping car on a slow train to well anywhere....why travel like a snail when you can soar with the eagles?!

MARTIN AIRCRAFT




On May 10, 1912 Martin flew his own plane, built in Santa Ana from the waters of the Pacific Ocean at Balboa to Catalina Island.  This was the first water-to-water flight and the longest and fastest (of course) over water flight ever, to that date.  On his return to the mainland Martin carried the day’s mail from Catalina another first…..Location marking this is at the South end of
Main Street
at Ocean Front (Balboa) Newport Beach.

Another awesome fact about Glenn Martin was his visit to Hollywood and his once in a life time role as a dashing hero in the movie "A Girl of Yesterday" (1915) starring Mary Pickford!  But he had to kiss Frances Marion (later she became a legendary Hollywood screenwriter) ...funny thing he's quoted as saying about his kissing scene...."My mother would not like it," which astounded Pickford as well as Marion!   Funny how Martin was right at home flying Pickford around in his airplane but he had such a hard time working up courage for a simple kiss!  He did complete his kissing scene with surely much pleasure!

And since I'm located within the land of friendly skies of Minnesota and what used to be the home of North Central Airlines, and Northwest Airlines, now just simply....Delta Airlines, and also where you can visit an old homestead of Charles Lindbergh right here in Minnesota, (OH NO, sorry) I won't post him (he was actually born in Detroit, Michigan) but I will introduce to you.....something more real to life!


I'll close with a more natural home grown Minnesota big time flyer...
the non-flyer pictured here is wearing a silly hat....

Courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society

Quite possibly this entry is located at Gate 14 at the Minnesota State Fair!

Thank you for sharing this flight...you may now debark the post....

19 comments:

Unknown said...

you are invited to follow my blog

Postcardy said...

That last one looks like a scene from the Poultry Building at the fair.

Margaret said...

Well, I think we have to give HUGE credit to Martin's mom as she obviously allowed him huge leeway to experiment!

Little Nell said...

Great! Silly hats AND fying contraptions!

sage said...

The golden age of aviation-today, I'll take a train. where do you find these old photos?

Brett Payne said...

Great photos and an illuminating story, thank you.

21 Wits said...

Sage, I like to collect postcards, my family albums, (I'm lucky to have many pictures (albums) of my grandparents, and I enjoy going to the Minnesota History Center1
Brett, thanks for your kind words!
Margaret, I think his Mom was pretty cool!
Postcardy, I believe you are right!

Tattered and Lost said...

My father used to fly a PBM. Tells wonderful stories about his flights and crew. Can't wait to show him this photo.

Alan Burnett said...

Great : you have taken the theme and squeezed every last fascinating nugget of sepia interest out of it.

Leovi said...

Excellent post with beautiful pictures and interesting information.

Bob Scotney said...

Fascinating post again Karen, some great planes here; I learned a lot about Glenn Martin that I never knew before.

Bruno Laliberté said...

the first pic is stunning, for the plane, and for the employees' "uniforms"...
;)~
Martin was a marking figure of the industry. but about his kissing scene, wasn't it a compliment that "his mother wouldn't like it"? must have been torrid, somewhat... now, i'll have to look for that movie...
;)~
HUGZ

Christine H. said...

Simply fabulous - a fascinating post from beginning to end. martin was an amazing man. You wonder how things might have been different if he had never been born. How much impact did one man have?
That first photo is stunning. I hope you forgive me for laughing out loud. Somehow it struck me as the masculine version of women in bathing suits washing a car.

Howard said...

Brilliant pictures! The first one looks like a monster. The last picture promises so much from their vision of exciting post-war aviation. Unfortunately modern planes are not spacious and comfortable unless you are rich.

Jenny said...

Wow. I love that bottom graphic! All your pictures were fascinating, though!

darlin said...

I love the photos of the old planes! This sure brings to my attention just how much we've progressed and in such a short period of time! Some days however I wonder if it's really progress when I think about it and tonight I'm just not going to think about it cause it's bed time. lol Have a great week Karen, another fantastic Sepia Saturday post!

21 Wits said...

Everyone, even those that blogger may have chewed up, and aren't here anymore, thanks...I really enjoy Sepia Saturday and all the interesting stuff we learn, (and may never have known about if it weren't for these random photos that Alan posts!) it's so much fun...and I think the monster plane term is pretty acurate on the 1st photo and you just have to love their plane washing suits!

Cloudia said...

AWESOME post!




Aloha from Waikiki

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Nancy said...

The first photo is stunning. I have never seen a plane like it before, nor a photo of one. The rest of your post is interesting and informative, too. Thanks!