The purchase of the Martins by Argentina was a direct consequence of a series of questionings that took place at the National Congress in 1935, widely followed by the Press, about the state of both Military and Naval Aviations.
The capability of the available combat aircraft to defend the national air space was put in doubt in comparison to those of neighbouring countries Chile and Brazil, as it was the quality of the autoctonous-design planes built by the Military Aircraft Factory.
As a consequence, two important reequipment laws were passed: Nº 12254 for Military Aviation and Nº12255 for Naval Aviation.
To reinforce the latter, 13 Martin 139WAA with its complementary equipment and spares were bought among other aircraft.
Twelve planes were inicially purchased and later another plane – used for demostrations – was bought for crew training purposes.
To choose the aircraft to be bought, an adquisitions commission analyzed three different aircraft: the Martin 139W, the Junkers Ju-86 and the Savoia-Marchetti S.79B, representing what were by then the most modern available aircraft of its kind.
A bomber able to carry a 2.000 pounds bomb at a 1.000 kilometres distance was required, so it could be able to attack large warships as battleships and heavy cruisers successfully.
The commission agreed that the Martin was the ablest of the three to fulfil the requirements.
Therefore, its purchase was recommended by act of November 21st, 1936, and the contract with the Factory was signed on December 24th.
One positive aspect of the B-10 was that could be operated as a seaplane by adding floats, even when it wasn´t locally used as such.
Its characteristics were: Length; 13,63 metres; wingspan, 21,49 metres and height, 3,48 metres.
Maximum speed at sea level: 306 km/h and range: 10 hours at 274 km/h.
The aircraft built for our Naval Aviation were fitted with Wright-Cyclone GR-1820-G2 850 HP instead of the original GR-1820-F52 760 HP engines.
They were also fitted with a RCA 50 W exit communications system, a Kreusi radio compass, a Straighflite Type 790B aperiodic compass for navigation and a Sperry auto pilot.
Its armament included three 12,70 Colt machine guns with 100 and its maximum bomb load was 1029 kg.
The first planes arrived in Argentina by ship in October, 1937, and were assembled in the repair facilities at the Punta Indio Air Naval Base. By early 1938 the new Martin-equipped units had been formed:
- The Air Naval Bomber Flight of the 2nd Air Naval Squadron, formed in 1938 and based at the Comandante Espora Air Naval Base, close to the city of Bahía Blanca. Comprised six aircraft code numbered 2-B-1 to 2-B-6. It operated on the Atlantic Coast and in cooperation with the Sea Fleet. It was disbanded in 1945.
- The Air Naval Bomber Flight of the 1st Air Naval Squadron, formed in 1938, based at the Punta Indio Air Naval Base. It comprised seven Martins 139 (six WAN and the only W trainer), code numbered 3-B-1 to 3-B-7.
In 1945 it received the aircraft from the disbanded Flight from Espora Base, with an added strenght of between 11 and 12 Martins until late 40´s, operating on the river coast, the Mesopotamia and the River Plate.
During his naval service, these bombers effectively fulfilled the roles of national waters patrolling and sea trade protection, in special during World War Two.
In addition to that, before the purchase of the DC-3 and DC-4 transport planes, the Martins operated as air naval transports in the south of the country, carrying mail and sporadically passengers without any commodities, due to the inner space limits that these aircraft had.
On July 10th, 1938, in the context of the National Independence Day, a great air parade was held in which the Naval Aviation displayed, among other aircraft, six Martins.
In November, 1939 at the request of the National Parks Administration, they bombed the Perito Moreno glacier on Lake Roca, to free the channel that connected it to Lake Rico.
On March, 1940 important naval exercises and a subsequent Presidential review were held in Mar del Plata, five Martins having taken part.
In 1941, in hommage to the 25th Anniversary of the Naval Aviation, the Punta Indio Bomber Flight carried out an important raid along Argentine territory:
Three Martins, code numbered 3-B-1, 3-B-2 and 3-B-4, were deployed to Ushuaia Air Naval Station and on February 13th, at 4 a.m., flew way to Espora Base where they refuelled, and 45 minutes later continued flying to Iguazú (Misiones), where they arrived at 6 p.m.
Crews were composed by:
- 3-B-1: Teniente de Navío Eleodoro Patrucchi (leader); Suboficial 1º Aeronáutico Orestes Tassarolo; Suboficial 2º Aeronáutico Alfredo Planes y Cabo 1º Aeronáutico Ismael Blanco.
- 3-B-2: Alférez de Navío Eduardo Lanusse (leader); Suboficial 1º Aeronáutico Roberto Blanco; Cabo 2º Radiotelegrafista Enrique Scotton y Cabo 2º Aeronáutico Mario Colombo.
- 3-B-4: Alférez de Navío Roberto Robles (leader); Suboficial 1º Aeronáutico Domingo Giovanetti; Cabo 1º Radiotelegrafista Luis Deus y Cabo 1º Aeronáutico Luis Muñiz.
On July 9th, 1948, Naval Aviation took part of the air parade composed by 49 aircraft, including five Martins
Finally, these bombers were officially discharged in 1949, after many years of valuables services, and the remaining planes were stored at Punta Indio base.
Its engines were used to replace those of the DC-2s arrived in 1946, that were in bad condition, and its bombsights and bombs were used in the Beechcraft AT-11 General Purposes aircraft so that they could be reconverted into light bombers.
Of the surviving Martins, one was given for educational purposes to the, by then, Technical School of Aviation Industrial Crafts, later National School of Technical Education “Jorge Newbery” in Haedo. This institute had close bonds with Naval Aviation since it was sponsored by the Navy Ministry in 1947 and its first headmaster was suboficial principal and teacher Ovidio Juan Gene, graduated from the Naval Mechanics School in 1921 and who served in the Navy until 1945 as a member of the Aeronautical branch.
To be continued as… “Its transfer to the United States”
