The Martin B-10 was a truly ground-breaking aircraft.
It's no wonder that the U.S. Army Air Corps sought to modify it to fill as many roles as possible.
Some are better remembered than others, but one that has been totally forgotten is the night reconnaissance version.
Dubbed the Martin XNR for eXperimental Night Reconnaissance, the first prototype took to the air late in 1935. The aircraft was originally designed to carry five 37 mm Kodak Klondike Parallax Viewfinder cameras. However, the two upward-facing ones mounted aft of pilot were removed when it turned out nobody wanted pictures of the night sky.
Boasting up-rated engines and new "speed props" with aerodynamic spinners, the aircraft featured a long greenhouse style canopy and a sleeker nose blister. Many consider the XNR to be the fastest looking of all the Martin B-10 variants.
The Martin XNR not only appeared speedy but quite menacing as well in the overall black night camouflage scheme.
After the prototype sailed through trials, it was decided to put the new concept of night reconnaissance to the test by forming a new unit around a batch of 15 aircraft fresh from the Martin factory.
Fortunately the U.S. Army Air Corps found just the right officer to lead the nascent 1st Night Recon Wing, one of proven ability who possessed sterling leadership qualities.
On paper, Major Magoo seemed the right man for the job. However, in practice, it was a different story.
Taking the totally wrong lesson from the reconnaissance failures of the 1934 War Games, Major Magoo decided that surprise and stealth would be the key to the 1st Night Recon Wing's success.
Accordingly, he forbade the use of either parachute flares or the Kodak Klondike Parallax Viewfinder carmeras' powerful electric flashes as he felt this would give away their position. The intelligence gathered suffered accordingly.
This intel was not very useful in either a strategic or tactical sense, but it was also incredibly hard on the photo interpreters, several of whom suffered acute vision loss attempting to get worthwhile data from the 1st Night Recon Wing's photos.
The Air Corps spent far longer than might seem sane attempting to get lemonade out of this lemon, but Major Magoo had powerful allies in the Air Corp's upper echelons and was able to keep his test unit flying.
Finally, after three years of not seeing anything, the 1st Night Recon Wing was disbanded and Major Magoo placed on the retired list.
Due to a lack of surviving documentary evidence, many so-called experts dismiss this aircraft as a poor attempt at gas-lighting but for one brief moment, the Martin XNR held the promise of being more than just a shot in the dark.
Brian da Basher
