The first of Marske's flying wings was the XM-1, a design inspired by the flying wing designs of Charles Fauvel and Al Backstrom. He built the XM-1 when he was 19 years old. The aircraft went through several versions, each a modification of the same basic airframe as Marske experimented with configurations. The aircraft started off with fins on the wing tips and was later converted to a single fin at the rear of the short fuselage in its "XM-1D" configuration.[1][4]
The XM-1 was built with a welded steel tube fuselage covered in fiberglass. The 40 ft (12.2 m) wing was fabricated from wood and covered with doped aircraft fabric. The wing employed a 14% Fauvel airfoil. The landing gear was a fixed monowheel.[1]
The XM-1 was described by Soaring Magazine as "easy to fly". The aircraft was stall and spin proof. Marske sold the aircraft and it went through a series of owners. The XM-1 was later removed from the FAA register and likely no longer exists.[1][2]
^Shenstone, B.S.; K.G. Wilkinson (1963). The World's Sailplanes:Die Segelflugzeuge der Welt:Les Planeurs du Monde Volume II (in English, French, and German) (1st ed.). Zurich: Organisation Scientifique et Technique Internationale du Vol a Voile (OSTIV) and Schweizer Aero-Revue. pp. 226–227.
Shenstone, B.S.; K.G. Wilkinson (1963). The World's Sailplanes:Die Segelflugzeuge der Welt:Les Planeurs du Monde Volume II (in English, French, and German) (1st ed.). Zurich: Organisation Scientifique et Technique Internationale du Vol a Voile (OSTIV) and Schweizer Aero-Revue. pp. 226–227.
Rogers, Bennett (August 1974). "1974 Sailplane Directory, Soaring Magazine". Soaring Magazine. Soaring Society of America: 96.
