09/30/2010. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The Glenn L. Martin Company was a major producer of military aircraft during the Second World War and built a wide range of types including the B-26 Marauder, the Mars and Mariner flying boats and, in the 1950s, the B-57 jet bomber based on the English Electric Canberra. Martin's sole venture into airliner manufacture came immediately after the war with the design of the Martin 202. This unpressurised low-wing twin-engined aircraft was a contemporary of the rather more successful Convair 240 and addressed the same need for a DC-3 replacement.

The 202 was a modern all-metal monocoque design with a retractable tricycle landing gear and it featured a retractable passenger entry stair under the rear fuselage. Power was provided by two 2,400 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-CA18 Double Wasp eighteen-cylinder, two-row, air-cooled radial engines mounted conventionally on the inboard wing sections. Martin's 40-passenger design, referred to as the 'Martin-Liner' became the first post-war twin-engined commercial transport to receive CAA certification.

The first prototype, registered NX93001, was first flown on November 21, 1946, soon followed by the second, registered as NX93002, and type approval was granted on August 13, 1947. Only 34 examples of the 202 were produced (including 3 prototypes), 4 went to LAN-Chile (Línea Aérea Nacional de Chile, first operator of the type, with which it entered service in October 1947), 2 were sold to LAV (Linea Aeropostal Venezolana) of Venezuela, and easily the major operator with a fleet of 25 was Northwest Airlines in the USA.

The 202 was grounded for a period in 1948 when a structural weakness was discovered in the wings. Thirteen improved aircraft with a strengthened airframe, increased fuel capacity, increased gross weight of 43,000 lb and R-2800-C816 Double Wasps, were completed for TWA (Trans World Airlines) as 202As. The 202A first flew in July 1950 and entered service on September 1 of that year.

For marketing reasons the model 202 is also known as 2-O-2 or Two-O-Two."