MARTIN B-57 CANBERRA

Titles: Martin B-57 Canberra No’s 1 to 3

The Martin B-57 was a licence produced version of the English Electric Canberra. At the start of the Korean War in 1950, the USAF had an urgent need for an all-weather interdictor aircraft to replace the Douglas B-26. The Canberra won the contest and Glenn L Martin Aircraft, who had submitted their own XB-51 as an unsuccessful entry into the contest, was selected to manufacture under licence the winning British aircraft design . The first example entered service in 1953 but by then the Korean War had ended and the urgent need had passed.

The initial B-57A was very similar to the British models except it used the Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire engine, produced by Wright as the J65, in place of the Rolls-Royce Avons used for the British models. It was found unsuitable for the bombing role and was used for reconnaissance. A new model, the B-57B was produced which introduced a new fighter type canopy with the second crew member in tandem behind the pilot. All production aircraft from that point used this basic configuration.

The aircraft was very adaptable and numerous roles were able to be preformed. In additional several were modified for high altitude reconnaissance with enlarged wings. The final variant was the B-57G which was used as night intruders in Vietnam. A total of 403 examples of all models was produced, and they were retired from active service in 1983.

We offer three titles for this versatile aircraft, covering several different variants and configurations of the B-57. All manuals have been scanned from the original flight manuals and retain any colour pages. Each title is US$9.95.