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Massive ‘Able Mabel’ had short Navy career

The Navy’s post-World War II Martin AM-1 Mauler was a story of superlatives.

It was the heaviest single-engine warplane designed for carrier operations. Its Pratt and Whitney four-row, 28-cylinder R-4360 radial engine was the most complex piston engine ever used in significant numbers.

“The AM-1 was a brute of an aircraft, and like other Martin designs was somewhat overbuilt, consequently expensive to operate,” said Stan Piet of the Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum in Baltimore. Both the museum and the company that built the AM-1 in the 1940s were named for the aviation pioneer whose surname survives today with the Lockheed Martin Corporation.

According to lore, the Glenn L. Martin Co.’s chief test pilot, O.E. “Pat” Tibbs, experienced a difficult moment shortly after the AM-1 Mauler’s first flight Aug. 26, 1944. Company documents indicate that Tibbs, one of the most experienced aviators in the country, was distracted by the sheer size and demanding handling qualities of the Mauler and forgot to put down his landing gear after a routine hop.

Tibbs made a belly landing on the runway and walked away from the plane fuming.

The AM-1’s wingspan was a full 50 feet, plus an inch. The fuselage was a little over 40 feet long, and the aircraft weighed 24,145 pounds when fully loaded. By the standards of its era, the Mauler was a behemoth.

The Mauler was difficult to fly because of its size coupled with its tail wheel landing-gear configuration. Sailors regarded the plane, and especially its engine — nicknamed the “corncob” for its four staggered rows of seven cylinders — as a maintenance nightmare.

The Mauler served with five Navy attack squadrons. After carrier qualifications aboard the carriers Kearsarge, Leyte and Midway, AM-1s completed several carrier cruises. The planes were soon withdrawn from sea service but flew with Naval Air Reserve squadrons until 1953.

Of the 152 Maulers built, three were initially known as XBTM-1s, to signify “bomber, torpedo” status; 131 were built as AM-1 models; and 18 were delivered as AM-1Q electronic countermeasures aircraft, with an enlisted operator in an uncomfortable, windowless compartment below and behind the pilot.

The Mauler, like the smaller but similar AD-1 Skyraider, was an attempt to get away from “single-mission” aircraft such as dive bombers and torpedo bombers. The idea was to handle all of the Navy’s carrier-based, air-to-surface combat needs. Because of the “AM” designation, sailors called it “Able Mabel,” or, less flatteringly, “Awful Monster.”

Martin’s competitor, Douglas Aircraft Co., eventually built 3,180 Skyraiders that served the fleet during the Cold War and fought in Vietnam. The Mauler vanished from the scene just as the Skyraider was beginning a long and successful career. Ë