Dunedin man Peter Mackenzie attended Kaikorai Valley High School with Mr Martin (48) and remained friendly with him when the pair studied at the University of Otago in the late 1970s.
Mr Mackenzie yesterday described Mr Martin as a super-smart "adrenaline junkie".
"He loved dangerous things - motorbikes, kayaking, white-water rafting, rally cars. He was always making things . . . building kayaks or putting on the crash helmet and rallying."
Mr Martin's love of danger was combined with exceptional intelligence.
"He was always the smartest kid in the class, and was a little bit naughty too, but I guess that was just your typical boy."
Mr Martin's efforts at making things were not always without drama.
As a teenager, he nearly burned down his parents' Taieri Rd, Dunedin, home while building a kayak in the basement workshop,when he left a welding torch on and he went for a cup of tea.
A biography on Mr Martin's company website says he disassembled and put back together his mother's broken vacuum cleaner at the age of 3, proudly plugging it in and blowing the "entire electrical grid of his town".
Mr Mackenzie said Mr Martin was "always tinkering", usually in his electrician father's workshop.
At university, he showed a particular talent for microbiology and left Dunedin after graduating in the early 1980s to work in Christchurch in sales and marketing for Ego Pharmaceuticals.
By that time, his interest in aero-dynamics, particularly in ducted fan propulsion, was well-developed.
He had already designed a prototype flying machine using ducted fan propulsion before he left university.
