American patrol bomber flying boat From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Martin PBM Mariner is a twin-engine American patrol bomberflying boat of World War II and the early Cold War era. It was designed to complement the Consolidated PBY Catalina and PB2Y Coronado in service. A total of 1,366 PBMs were built, with the first example flying on February 18, 1939, and the type entering service in September 1940, with the last of the type being retired in 1964.
A Mariner, otherwise noted for its WW2 and post-War service, was the type that vanished searching for Flight 19. Flight 19 vanished in the Bermuda Triangle, it and the Mariner that searched for it were never found with its 14 crew, though it was thought to have suffered a mid-air explosion. Another noted crash was the 1946 Antarctica PBM Mariner crash in December 1946.
To test the PBM's layout, Martin built a three-eighths scale flying model, the Martin 162A Tadpole Clipper with a crew of one and powered by a single 120hp (89kW)Chevrolet engine driving two airscrews via v-belts; this was flown in December 1937.[3][4] This was followed by an initial production order for 21 PBM-1 aircraft on December 28, 1937.[5]
The first genuine PBM, the XPBM-1, flew on 18 February 1939.[2]
The aircraft had multiple gun positions including single mounts at each midship beam and stern above the tail cone. Additional guns were positioned in the nose and dorsal turrets, each fitted with two-gun turrets. The bomb bays were in the engine nacelles. The gull wing was of cantilever design, and featured clean aerodynamics with an unbraced twin tail. The PBM-1 was equipped with retractable wing landing floats that were hinged outboard, with single-strut supported floats that retracted inwards to rest beneath the wing, with the floats' keels just outboard of each of the engine nacelles. The PBM-3 had fixed floats, and the fuselage was three feet longer than that of the PBM-1.
Martin also developed the even larger 4-engined Martin JRM Mars in this period.[6]
A U.S. Navy PBM-1 of Patrol Squadron 56 (VP-56) in 1940.A PBM-5 on the deck of USS Norton Sound in April 1945 off SaipanA U.S. Navy PBM of Fleet Air Wing 6 is hoisted aboard the seaplane tenderUSSCurtiss(AV-4) after a mine-hunting patrol off North Korea during the Korean War (1950-1953).PBM Mariner leaves a wake (August 1943)
The United States Coast Guard acquired 27 Martin PBM-3 aircraft during the first half of 1943. In late 1944, the service acquired 41 PBM-5 models and more were delivered in the latter half of 1945. Ten were still in service in 1955, although all were gone from the active Coast Guard inventory by 1958 (when the last example was released from CGAS San Diego and returned to the U.S. Navy). These flying boats became the backbone of the long-range aerial search and rescue efforts of the Coast Guard in the early post-war years until supplanted by the P5M Marlin and the HU-16 Albatross in the mid-1950s.[9]
PBMs continued in service with the U.S. Navy following the end of World War II, flying long patrol missions during the Korean War.[10] It continued in front line use until replaced by its successor, the P5M Marlin. The last Navy squadron equipped with the PBM, Patrol Squadron Fifty (VP-50), retired them in July 1956.[11]
On 5 December 1945, a PBM Mariner took off from Eastern Florida to search for a missing Flight 19 (five TBM Avengers on a training flight), and was not heard from again. Twenty minutes after takeoff the airplane vanished from radar. A vessel in the area reported seeing a fireball and found an oil slick, but no remains of the crew or aircraft were found. The aircraft and crew remained missing but it is suspected it suffered from a mid-air explosion.[17][18]
Unarmed transport version of PBM-3. 18 new build plus 31 converted from PBM-3.[21]
PBM-3C (Model 162C)
Improved patrol version with twin .50 in machine guns in nose and dorsal turrets, and single guns in tail turret and waist positions. AN/APS-15 radar in radome behind cockpit; 274 built.[22]
PBM-3B (Model 162C)
Designation for ex-RAF Mariner GR.1A after return to U.S. Navy.[22]
PBM-3S (Model 162C)
Dedicated anti-submarine aircraft with reduced armament and weight for improved range. Six were prototyped from the PBM-3C with radar and standard armament less the dorsal turret. Later a light weight nose armament was fitted (2× fixed 0.50 in machine guns in nose. Retained were single machine gun in port waist position.; 62 conversions plus 94 built as new plus .[23][24]
PBM-3D (Model 162D)
Patrol bomber with increased power (two 1,900hp (1,417kW) R-2600-22s) and increased armament (twin 0.50 in machine guns in nose, dorsal, and tail turrets, plus two waist guns). 259 built.[23]
PBM-4 (Model 162E)
Proposed version with two 2,700hp (2,015kW) Wright R-3350 engines; unbuilt.[25]
Improved anti-submarine aircraft with revised radar installation.[25]
PBM-5A (Model 162G)
Amphibian version of PBM-5, with retractable tricycle undercarriage; 36 built plus four conversions.[25]
Mariner I
British designation for 32 PBM-3B supplied to the Royal Air Force.
A 41 Sqn RAAF Mariner in 1944A 524 Sqn RAF Mariner I at Oban, Scotland (UK), in October 1943.A U.S. Coast Guard PBM takes off from the water assisted by RATO.Martin PBM Mariner in US service in 1942
PBM-5 BuNo 59172 lies upside down under Lake Washington. It crashed on 6 May 1949, and after a number of unsuccessful attempts to recover the wreck over the following decades, it is now used as a training site for divers.[35][36]
On June 16, 1944, a U.S. Navy PBM-5 exploded and crashed in San Francisco Bay, California, killing the pilot, Lieutenant William Hess, and eight other Navy crewmen.[citation needed]
On 30 November 1944, a U.S. Navy PBM-5 crashed into Mount Tamalpais in northern California, killing eight naval aviators and naval aircrewmen. The aircraft had taken off from Naval Air Station Alameda and was part of a larger flight headed for Hawaii when it developed engine trouble shortly after takeoff.[citation needed]
On 10 September 1958, Mariner P-303 was being ferried to the Netherlands from Biak, Indonesia. Due to technical problems, a forced landing was carried out at Abadan, Iran. About two weeks later, repairs had been accomplished, and the aircraft took off. Shortly after takeoff, an oil leak was observed on engine number one. While on final approach for landing at Abadan airport, the aircraft suddenly lost height and crashed, killing all aboard. It appeared that the remaining propeller reversed thrust, causing the crew to lose control.[38]
On 9 November 1958, a PBM-5 Mariner (CS-THB, named "Porto Santo") of the Portuguese airline ARTOP (Aero-Topográfica) piloted by Harry Frank Broadbent and co-piloted by Thomas Rowell, carrying four other crew and 30 passengers, disappeared on a scheduled passenger flight from Cabo Ruivo, Lisbon, Portugal to Funchal, Madeira. The last communication from the aircraft (when it was about 13°W) was a radio message code "QUG", meaning "I am forced to land immediately". No trace has ever been found of the aircraft, nor its six crew or 30 passengers.[39][40]
3-view line drawing of the Martin PBM-5S Mariner
Data fromJane’s Fighting Aircraft of World War II[41]
Bridgeman, Leonard. “The Martin Model 162 Mariner.” Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. London: Studio, 1946. ISBN1-85170-493-0.
Donald, David, ed. American Warplanes of World War II. London: Aerospace Publishing, 1995. ISBN1-874023-72-7.
Dorr, Robert F. "Variant Briefing: Martin Flying Boats: Mariner, Mars and Marlin". Wings of Fame, Volume 7, 1997, pp.114–133. London: Aerospace Publishing, ISBN1-874023-97-2.
Green, William. War Planes of the Second World War: Volume Five Flying Boats. London: Macdonald, 1968. ISBN0-356-01449-5.
Hoffman, Richard A. "Dutch Mariners: PBMs in Service with the Netherlands Navy". Air Enthusiast, No. 97, January/February 2002, pp.73–77. Stamford, UK:Key Publishing. ISSN 0143-5450.
Hoffman, Richard A. The Fighting Flying Boat: A History of the Martin PBM Mariner. Annapolis, Maryland: US Naval Institute Press, 2004. ISBN978-1-59114-375-8.
Hoffman, Richard A. "South American Mariners: Martin PBMs in Argentina and Uruguay". Air Enthusiast, No. 104, March/April 2003, pp.29–33. Stamford, UK: Key Publishing. ISSN 0143-5450.
Jefford, C. G. RAF Squadrons. Ramsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing, UK, First edition, 1988. ISBN1-85310-053-6.
March, Daniel J. British Warplanes of World War II. London: Aerospace Publishing, 1998. ISBN1-874023-92-1.
Martin PBM-3C US Navy Pilot's Handbook (MTPBM3C-POH-C). Washington, D.C.: The Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department, 1944.
Martin PBM-3D 1943 Pilot's Handbook of Flight Operating Instructions (AN 01-35QF-1). Washington, D.C.: The Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department, 1944.
Martin PBM-3D 1945 Pilot's Handbook of Flight Operating Instructions (AN 01-35EE-1). Washington, DC: The Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department, 1944.
Martin PBM-5 1947 Navy Model Pilot's Handbook (AN 01-35ED-1). Washington, D.C.: The Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department, 1944.
PBM-3S PNM-3D Handbook of Structural Repair Navy Model (A.N. 01-35QG-3). Washington, D.C.: The Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department, 1944.
Smith, Bob. PBM Mariner in action - Aircraft No. 74. Carrollton, Texas: Squadron/Signal Publications, 1986. ISBN978-0-89747-177-0.
Swanborough, Gordon and Peter M. Bowers. United States Navy Aircraft since 1911. London: Putnam, 1976. ISBN0-370-10054-9.
Sweet, Donald H. et al. The Forgotten Heroes: The Story of Rescue Squadron VH-3 in World War II.Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey:DoGO, 2000. ISBN0-9679889-8-5.
Ginter, Steve (2013). Martin PBM Mariner. Naval Fighters. Vol.Nº97 (Firsted.). California, United States: Ginter Books. ISBN978-0-9892583-1-9. Retrieved 31 January 2015.