Martin 167-A3

Martin 167-A3

F.222.2

M.B.174A-3

Martin 167-A3

F.222.2

M.B.174A-3

France

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.0	2.0	2.3

Class:

Bomber

Frontline bomber

Research:5 900

Purchase:6 300

Description

The Martin 167-A3 is a rank I French bomber with a battle rating of 2.0 (AB/RB) and 2.3 (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.77 "Advancing Storm".

General info

Flight performance

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 3,962 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	454	443	9600	21.8	22.6	6.3	6.3	350
Upgraded	505	479		20.2	21.0	12.4	9.0

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
0	278	340	340	210	~8	~3

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 315	< 310	< 300	> 290

Survivability and armour

• No armour
• Self-sealing fuel tanks (1 in each wingroot)

Armaments

Offensive armament

The Martin 167-A3 is armed with:

• 4 x 7.5 mm FN Browning machine guns, wing-mounted (800 rpg = 3,200 total)

The four machine guns are arranged in bundles of two mounted in each wing. Each are armed with the same amount of ammunition, which means that all guns will fire with each other until empty.

Suspended armament

The Martin 167-A3 can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

• 8 x 50 kg D.T. No.2 bombs (400 kg total)
• 16 x 50 kg D.T. No.2 bombs (800 kg total)

Defensive armament

The Martin 167-A3 is defended by:

• 1 x 7.7 mm Vickers K machine gun, dorsal turret (500 rpg)

Usage in battles

High-altitude bomber: For high altitude bombing, gaining altitude is a priority, especially to put distance between you and fighters that rumble around the low-mid altitudes. At higher altitudes, mobile targets will be difficult to bomb as they will scatter when your bombs are released. Up high, it is better to focus on immobile targets such as artillery/AA gun emplacements or bases (if they are on the map). In AB, one way to gain altitude is to:

• Immediately on spawn, drop all bombs, hit WEP and climb.
• As WEP runs out, level the plane and wait for the next WEP cycle. It takes about three WEP cycles to get to a decent altitude.
• Remember, as you are climbing, release bombs as they reload to reduce weight.
• Once you are at a decent altitude, fly towards your targets and prepare to bomb utilizing the bomb sight (V).
• If you start to see fighters working their way up towards you, continue on climbing in between bomb reloading cycles.
• Repeat 4-5 as needed until you get shot down or the game ends.

Mid-Low altitude bomber: At the mid-low altitudes you are a prime target for fighters, being not as manoeuverable and a fairly large profile. Here you may only get one chance to drop your bombs before being shot down, so look for holes in the enemy defense where you can slip by, line up a shot, drop your ordinance and manouever out for another run (or reload at base if playing RB/SB). If pressed and there are enemy all around, turn into heavy-fighter mode after your ordinance has been dropped and start pursuing. The turn and loop time is not the greatest, however this aircraft has a strong rudder and can do a power-on wing-over, quickly changing directions without much loss in energy (and a surprise to some pursuit aircraft who think they have you nailed). At this point, you can also transition to attacker mode.

Attacker (on the deck): While the four wing mounted 7.5 mm FN Browning machine guns may not seem like much, when coupled with the 50 kg bombs, you can rack up some vehicle kills. While strafing the ground, all soft targets are available as the vehicles will not have much time to get out of the way of your ordinance. In AB it is best to use your 3rd person view to use the bombing indicator as you will need to fly the aircraft and bomb at the same time (vs. using (V) and solely utilizing the bomb sight while the AI keeps the aircraft level). In between bombing reloads you can strafe with your 4 x 7.5 mm machine guns to eliminate artillery/AA gun emplacements and armoured vehicles. While on the deck, you will typically encounter enemy aircraft and can divert to go after them if given the chance or perform evasive maneuvers while your gunner fires away (you get credit for hits, so let him fire away!).

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Not controllable	Controllable Not auto controlled	Not controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Combined	Not controllable 1 gear	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage repair	Radiator		Turret 7 mm
II		Compressor	Airframe	New 7 mm MGs (turret)	50 DT
III	Wings repair	Engine		Offensive 7 mm
IV		Engine injection	Cover	New 7 mm MGs

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Decently manoeuvrable for a bomber
• Short take off distance (which is great for maps with short runways)
• Fast
• Tracer belts for the forward-firing MGs are literal flamethrowers
• Good visibility from the cockpit.
• Decent rate of climb at full load (best when ordinance is released)
• Strong rudder control - aids in sharper manoeuvres

Cons:

• No armour protection whatsoever
• Weak defensive firepower
• Very light stock payload
• Rear gunner field of vision and fire is small
• Rear gun is on a pintle mount, and cannot traverse forward
• Extremely prone to fuel fires
• (RB/SB) Flaps tear off quickly and at moderate speed (easily red-lines in a dive)
• Offensive machine guns are mounted so far apart that they are virtually useless (you won't be able to hit a truck with all 4, for example)

History

The Martin Model 167 medium bomber was developed as a response to a set of requirements issued by the USAAC in 1938. Following these requirements, Martin developed its Model 167 bomber, which received its official testing designation of XA-22. However, despite showing favorable performance, the XA-22 lost out to the Douglas DB-7 (which became A-20 Havoc) during the competition, which resulted in Douglas getting the contract with the USAAC. What would usually spell disaster for most projects that suffered a fate like this, turned out to not to be the case for Martin's design. With an armed conflict looming over Europe, nations such as France and the UK were desperately stocking up with any military equipment that was on offer, including aircraft. France in particular was looking into buying any available aircraft from manufacturers abroad as the domestic production was limited. These manufacturers were in many cases American companies, just like Martin. In any case, the first orders for French export versions of Martin's new bomber soon came in, effectively sparing the project from ruin.

The first order called for more than 200 Martin 167s to be built with certain modifications made to optimize it for French use, such as the installation of French armament, including guns, metric instruments and different engines. Martin, eager to fulfill the order, nearly doubled production and managed to manufacture over 100 aircraft in the space of six months. However, the shipment of ready units was delayed until October 1939 until the U.S. arms embargo was lifted. During this period, the French placed an order for an additional 100 aircraft to be made. However, before the order could be entirely fulfilled, France had been occupied by Germany in June 1940 and only 25 further aircraft made it to France after the initial batch. Nonetheless, the units that made it to France performed well in combat, out matching some of France's domestic bomber aircraft, such as the LeO 451 in combat efficiency and loss rates. Once the armistice was signed, the remaining aircraft were transferred to the African theater of operations, placed under Vichy command and took part in bombing missions against allied positions. In 1943, the Martin 167s stationed in Africa were replaced by newer allied aircraft once the local French forces joined the allies again. A total of around 450 Martin 167 bombers were manufactured and the aircraft continued to serve among the ranks of the French and British air forces until 1945.

- From Devblog

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog Martin 167-A3: American Mercenary

Glenn L. Martin Company
Attackers	AM-1
Bombers	B-10B · B-26B · PBM-1 · PBM-3 · PBM-5A
Jet bombers	B-57A* · B-57B*
Export	Martin 139WC · Martin 167-A3 · B-26C
	* These aircraft were license-built from The English Electric Company Limited who developed and built the British English Electric Canberra.

France bombers
Farman	F.222.2 · N.C.223.3
Latécoère	Late 298D
Potez	Potez 633
Liore et Olivier	LeO 451 early · LeO 451 late
Bloch	M.B.174A-3 · M.B.162 · M.B.175T
American	V-156-F · Martin 167-A3 · ▄A-35B · ▄SB2C-5 · B-26C · ▄PBY-5A Late · ▄PB4Y-2
British	Lancaster MR.7