The Martin AM Mauler (originally XBTM) is a single-seat carrier-based attack aircraft built for the United States Navy.

Designed during World War II, the Mauler encountered development delays and did not enter service until 1948 in small numbers.

The aircraft proved troublesome and remained in frontline service only until 1950, when the Navy switched to the smaller and simpler Douglas AD Skyraider.

Wartime experience showed that pilots could aim bombs and torpedoes without assistance from other crewmembers as well as navigate with the aid of radio beacons, and the development of more powerful engines meant that faster aircraft no longer needed a rear gunner for self-defense.

[1] In 1943, the US Navy invited proposals for a new multi-purpose bomber and selected four designs in September: the Curtiss XBTC, Douglas XBT2D Skyraider, Kaiser-Fleetwings BTK and the Martin XBTM.

[3] The XBTM-1 was a low-wing, all-metal monoplane with folding wings to allow more compact storage in carrier hangar decks, and conventional landing gear.

[4] The fixed armament of four 20 mm (0.79 in) T-31 autocannon was fitted in the center section, adjacent to the outer wing panels with 200 rounds per gun.

A dozen hardpoints could be installed on the outer wing panels to carry 250-pound (113 kg) bombs or 5-inch (127 mm) High Velocity Aircraft Rockets.

In service, the Mauler earned the nickname "Able Mable" because its AM designation and the fact that in the phonetic alphabet of the era the letter A was pronounced as "Able", the name Mabel being a rhyme and representing the M, and perhaps of its remarkable load-carrying ability, once lifting 10,648 pounds (4,830 kg) of ordnance (three 2,200-pound (998 kg) torpedoes, a dozen 250-pound bombs plus its 20 mm guns and their ammunition) on 30 March 1949, perhaps the heaviest load ever carried by a single-engine, piston-powered aircraft.

Initial flight tests conducted with the first two prototypes revealed significant problems with the engine, its cowling, the vertical stabilizer and rudder.

During this latter deployment, the squadron participated in the unsuccessful search for a British South American Airways Avro Tudor airliner missing in the Caribbean.

[14] Carrier Air Group 8 (CVG-8) was established on 15 September 1948 in response to the Berlin Blockade with newly qualified pilots and reservists who volunteered for active duty.

CVG-8 made a two-week cruise aboard Midway beginning on 27 June along the East Coast of the United States, before it was disbanded in November after the peaceful resolution of the Berlin Blockade.

[16] Although the Skyraider was a third smaller and carried a third less bombload, it proved more reliable in service and easier to fly and land, and Navy pilots preferred it.