Martin Kitten, a large tiny airplane

[Amccombs3]

My quarantine project now is the Martin K.III Kitten, a somewhat ridiculous airplane in the (U.S.A.) National Air and Space Museum’s collection. I last saw it hanging in Bldg. 24 at the Garber Facility, where I imagine it still resides. Its claim to fame is being the first airplane with landing gear that could be (partially) retracted on flight. The designer thought that the K shaped wing struts were a real game changer. He was wrong.

The kit is published by WAK, 2 pages in 1:33 scale (hence “large tiny”) and is of their customary high quality. I’m working slowly and am trying to do a good job, though my fitting of the upper fuselage skin could have gone better. The jury is out on the many wire parts, since I haven’t worked much with wire before.

[Don Boose]

Looks good so far, Anne! I look forward to watching this little airplane model take shape.

Don

[murphyaa]

Who knows, what you learn on the model may help out if you end up working on the real thing.

[SCEtoAUX]

Some interesting, if somewhat brief, history on that aircraft.

[Amccombs3]

Progress since the last set of photos. Fuselage is skinned, with a few buckles around the underlying eggcrate. The turtledeck, 45 HP engine, and wheel wells are in place. This airplane was supposed to be a “high altitude” fighter, apparently intended to attack airships. It achieved an unimpressive altitude of 295 ft. And I misspoke in my earlier post — it was the first *American* airplane with retractable gear. Apologies to other countries who did it earlier.

[rockpaperscissor]

What an interesting project. You're doing a bang up job so far, Anne.

[modelperry]

I will enjoy following along with your progress. Looks good, so far!

greg

[Don Boose]

Your model is shaping up nicely, Anne.

Looking into this airplane a little deeper, I find that the designer (J.V. Martin, no relation to Glenn Martin) projected a speed of 97 miles per hour at 25,000 feet. He installed an oxygen cylinder so the pilot could breathe at that altitude. Perhaps the weight of the oxygen cylinder and the landing gear retracting mechanism, combined with the 45 horsepower of the little A.B.C. Gnat engine, is what resulted in the 295-foot ceiling.

After the Army rejected the Kitten, Martin submitted to the Navy an enlarged design, the K-IV) with a larger, 60-hp engine, the span increased to 24 feet 2 inches (from the K-III’s 15-foot span), and the innovative retractable landing gear replaced by floats. With the larger span and 60-hp engine, they could get up to 11,400 feet. The Navy bought three K-IVs (or K-4s); re-designated them as KF-1s (KF = Kitten Floatplane); assigned Bureau of Aeronautics numbers A5840, 41, and 42; and tested them as seaplane scouts. The Navy version was not as improbable as the Army Kitten. The Navy was quite interested in ultra-light aircraft to be carried aboard submarines or destroyers and tested several types, including the Kitten Floatplane, before deciding on the Cox-Klemin XS-1, six of which were built for the Navy by Glenn Martin as the MS-1.

Incidentally, Martin’s design apparently was inspired by two 1917 Royal Navy aircraft, both also called “Kittens” and both powered by the A.B.C. Gnat: the Grain Kitten (P.V.7) built by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) Experimental Construction Depot (ECD) at Port Victoria (and test flown at the Isle of Grain, hence the name) and the Eastchurch Kitten (P.V.8) built by the RNAS Experimental Flight at Eastchurch. Steve Bucher once produced a 1/24 paper model of the Eastchurch Kitten, but I do not know if or where it is still available.

The source of the first image below is Gordon Swanborough and Peter M Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1968, page 426. The second image is from William T. Larkins, U.S. Navy Aircraft 1921-1941, Concord, CA: Aviation History Publications, 1961, page 26. The third image (Glenn Martin MS-1) is also from Swanborough and Bowers, page 400.

The National Air and Space Museum website provides additional information and a good image of the K-III aircraft: https://airandspace.si.edu/collectio...m_A19250004000

There is also a lot of good information in Jon Guttman, “The J.V. Martin ‘Kitten’: An Airship Interceptor,” Aviation History, March 1996, available from HistoryNet at https://www.historynet.com/the-jv-ma...nterceptor.htm

I hope you will forgive me for this diversion, Anne, but I couldn’t resist trying to find out more about the fascinating little machine you are modeling.

Don

[Amccombs3]

A little more progress today: landing gear (NOT retractable in this scale) and propeller with a Disneyesque spinner. The fuselage is pretty well done; everything from here on out is flight surfaces, struts, and bracing.

Many thanks to Don for his additional research. Although the K.III was not much of a success, its successors fared a little better. I may have misspoken about its altitude — it may never have gotten out of ground effect. I think we can safely say that it did leave the ground under its own power. And that, as airplanes go, it is ridiculously cute.

[Miles Linnabery]

Dear Ann:
Dare I call it a dumpy little thing, I don't know if it is the model or camera angles but to me I would entitle it Princess Dumpy Kitten.
Nice Build,
Miles