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As part of the AHM's goal of acquiring significant propeller driven commercial
airliners, a Martin 4O4 was on our list of desirable aircraft
to find. We also knew that this stalwart of 1950's "commuter" aircraft was
getting to be almost an impossibility to find, so time was a critical factor.
When the
opportunity presented itself to find one, we pounced upon it.
There were only 103 Martin 4O4's built.
Eastern Airlines had the
largest fleet, 60 of them. These Martins of Eastern Airlines were primarily deployed
along their eastern seaboard routes, and in Florida. TWA operated 40 of these planes.
Two
went to the Coast Guard as VIP transports, and one was used as an electronics test bed.
Our Martin 4O4, serial number 14142, was delivered to Eastern Airlines
in February,
1952. It flew 13 years for Eastern, and in 1965 it went to Southern Airways, where
they operated their 4O4s in the southern United States for a
number of years. After these many years of service, much the worse for wear, it was parked
in storage.
An entrepreneur in Florida bought N145S,
along with 2 other Martin 4O4s with the thought of using them to fly gamblers and
vacationers to the Caribbean. However, financial difficulties ultimately sunk this
endeavor.
 Now, with the bank owning N145S, it sat on
the ramp in Fort Lauderdale, Florida awaiting its fate. An alert AHM member got
wind of it. After 18 months of back and forth negotiations with the bank,
AHM took possession of the Martin 4O4, along with the world's largest collection of spare
Martin parts. In 1993, the aircraft was in relatively good shape.
After some work
and a paint job, "Skyliner Kansas City" is now one of only a
handful of Martin 4O4s in existence.
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