America's WW2 Flying Boat That Came With A Kitchen | Martin PBM Mariner

the martin pbm mariners these aircraft were beautiful they were majestic and they were big so big in fact that they served as a floating home for the crews that operated them heck not many military planes can boast their own kitchen but unless you're an aviation enthusiast you probably don't know too much about the mariner despite distinguishing itself during the second world war it would never reach the popularity of its slightly older cousin the pby catalina and its post-war legacy was marred by a series of accidents one of the reasons for its obscurity is the lack of surviving models there are numerous examples of the catalina to be found today including over a dozen ear worthy examples but if you wanted to get your hands on a pbm mariner you'd have to steal the one and only example from the pima air and space museum which i don't really recommend as stealing priceless world war ii era aircraft is usually frowned upon but you can get your hands on a digital version of this majestic 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replacing the less capable p2y and the martin p3m but within 18 months the navy was already looking for an upgrade members of the top brass had been impressed by the deep hulled flying boats operated by pan-american airways the so-called pan am clippers sikorsky had built the s40 and s42 martin's first m130 was flying by 1935 and the boeing 314 still under development showed great promise the influence of these aircraft can be seen in the naval requirements for the next generation of flying boats calling for a larger stronger more seaworthy successor to the catalina clearly an insult to catalina enthusiasts everywhere this new generation comprised of three aircraft the consolidated pb2y coronado the sikorsky xpbs1 and the martin pbm mariner which is the star of today's video and by far and away the most successful of the three to meet the navy's requirements martin got to work on a brand new design under the company designation model 160. it was a clean lined four engine or metal flying boat with an exceptionally deep hull that was wider at the bottom than at the top there was however a problem money or rather a lack thereof martin had sunk a considerable amount of funds into the aforementioned clipper aircraft only to lose out to boeing in the long run they couldn't afford to gamble the cost of building a full-scale prototype and instead offered to build a quarter scale flying model as a proof of concept their main competitor consolidated took issue with this and put pressure on the navy to stick to their role of accepting full-scale prototypes only this backroom squabbling caused delays but it actually gave martin the opportunity to alter their proposal to be more appealing re-designated as the model 162 martin changed their design from a four engine to a two engine flying boat in the hopes of winning the navy over with a more cost-effective aircraft several other changes were made as well the most radical being a gold wing configuration that was adopted to keep the engines as far above the water spray as possible while still allowing the wing to be attached to the top of the fuselage rather than as a parasol mount satisfied with martin's amended proposal the us navy issued a contract to build a prototype and the aircraft was given the designation xpbm experimental patrol bomber martin once again the cost of building a full-scale prototype was prohibitive and once again martin offered to build a scale model arguing that less time and materials would be wasted if major redesigns were needed and this was completed to 3 8 scale and was called the model 162-a affectionately nicknamed the tadpole clipper it was used to evaluate the hydrodynamics of the hull for takeoff and landing since no radial engines were small enough to fit into the scaled-down cowlings a single engine was installed in the fuselage that drove both the propellers by a pair of belts testing of this scale model proved extremely useful allowing alterations to be made to the prototype before construction had even begun and the navy was so impressed by its performance that they placed an order for 20 production pbm ones on the 18th of december 1937 a full 14 months before the full scale prototype would even fly construction of said prototype occupied the entirety of 1938 with the xpbn 1 being completed in the early weeks of 1939 it made its first flight on the 18th of february and then went through the usual routine of flight trials service evaluations and so on during these trials members of the navy's bureau of aeronautics were impressed with what they saw with a wingspan of 118 feet or 36 meters unique bombays in the engine nacelles that could carry 4000 pounds or 1800 kilos of ordnance and a double deck hull replete with all the facilities needed for long-range missions the pbm was an imposing sight to behold it was also well defended with provisions made for five defensive positions each holding a 50 caliber machine gun one was in a nose turret another in a dorsal turret two were installed on midships in waste positions and the final one was in the tail originally martin designed it so that a 20 millimeter cannon could replace the machine gun in the nose but later on this was a dropped as the navy decided that installing two 50-caliber machine guns instead was a more reliable option lifting this bulk into the air was a pair of newly introduced right r2600-6 cyclones each one putting out a generous 1600 horsepower and driving three blade hamilton standard propellers flight testing of the prototype went relatively smoothly other than some tail problems and some purposing which had been accurately predicted by the scale model flight characteristics were deemed as good to solve the tail problem a dihedral was added to the horizontal tail surfaces that matched the dihedral of the gold wing the vertical fins remained at a 90 degree angle to the tail plane which resulted in the characteristic tail layout that set the pbm apart from its contemporaries following successful completion of its evaluations the xpbm was accepted by the navy in december of 1939 with the first production pbm ones being delivered the following autumn outwardly the pbm1 was almost identical to the final version of the prototype except for some contour changes in the turret areas and the top hull forward of the tail these entered service with the vp55 and vp56 patrol squadrons and by the summer of 1941 all 20 of the original order had been delivered it was around this time that the tradition of officially naming aircraft was introduced a decision made by government who figured it was easier for the general public to recognize an aircraft by a name rather than an arbitrary series of letters dashes and the occasional number manufacturers were given the option of choosing a name themselves or having the army or navy do it for them and martin went with the name mariner mariners quickly found themselves operating in near wartime conditions as the us was expanding the range and scope of naval patrols to help protect shipments of material to britain against the german u-boats these activities were ostensibly described as neutrality patrols intended to keep the us out of a european war though in practice they were effective violations of neutrality that antagonised the german leadership and military and whose details were concealed as much as possible from the american public despite seeing no actual wartime combat by this point the navy was happy enough with the pbm1 to order an improved version of the aircraft in the autumn of 1940. the initial order for what was to become the pbm3 amounted to 379 units but the final production run would be almost double that figure to help martin cope with this sudden spike in demand the us government helped finance the construction of a new production plant in maryland and production got underway though they were built in the smallest numbers the pbm ones were perhaps the most recognizable owing to their retractable floats though helpful in reducing drag during flight they were not up to the task of withstanding the repeated buffeting of water operations when vp55 squadron was reformed as vp74 and sent to reykjavik iceland they suffered multiple problems with these floats when taking off and landing in rough seas this inevitably led to accidents and some serious ones at that and all subsequent models would be fitted with larger fixed floats instead against the recommendation of the squadron's commanding officer vp74 was kept in iceland during the winter months with the basic seadrome exposing the pbms to extended periods of weather that would have tested any aircraft at the time and this unfortunately led to the unit's first operational loss when a pbm slammed into the side of a mountain in heavy fog on the 1st of november the aircraft had been kept at reykjavik for the benefit of range for although the mariners could cover a vast amount of ocean they couldn't cover all of it from their coastal bases in the u.s because of this a pbm1 was heavily modified to test the feasibility of an extreme long-range variant fuel capacity was increased from 2700 to 4815 us gallons or just over 18 000 liters for metric enthusiasts attachments for catapult launching were added and the structure was reinforced to cope with the added weight and launch loading known as the xpbm2 this experimental mariner was successfully launched from a specialized catapult ship in 1942 but by this point america was already in the war the raiding of allied convoys in the atlantic was already reaching a critical level and the pressing need for anti-submarine aircraft meant that all energy was put into the production of the pbm3 instead the pbm3 came in several different sub-variants in fact only 32 were ever built to the original configuration and those would never see service in the skies as the first 50 production units were stripped of their defensive armor and armament and modified as transports known as the pbm-3r all of these were given over to the naval air transport service which was going through a rapid expansion to keep up with the ever-growing logistical needs of the navy reinforced flooring cargo doors and hoists were added and operational seating was provided for up to 20 passengers although mariners were often configured to carry as many as 30. once the transport models were out of the way the next major production subvariant the pbm 3c made its first appearance in september of 1942 this new frontline model boasted a series of improvements defensive armor was increased powered to turrets were installed the tail gun position was improved and twin 50 caliber machine guns were mounted in the nose and dorsal positions some pbm3cs were also equipped with search radar mounted in a large housing atop the spine of the hull just behind the cockpit this became a highly recognizable feature and was put to good use in anti-submarine warfare these were the first mariners to see extensive use in the war and their crews quickly realized that life aboard a mariner was much more like that of being aboard a ship rather than a plane this was because they spent a lot of time aboard missions could go up to 14 hours depending on fuel and weather and when at sea aboard a seaplane tender half the crew was required to be aboard their mariners at all times in case of an emergency because of this the aircraft came with a suite of facilities that while not luxurious by any means at least made life aboard bearable and even comfortable there was a sleeping cabin that held four bunks this also doubled as a general restroom for off-duty crew and the mariner had a full-on galley complete with a small stove pantry etc where one of the crewmen would act as cook and prepare meals to be served out the toilet facilities were less advanced with the head consisting of a can with a seat a paper bag and a tube in essence it was a flying barracks and its nine occupants spent many hours days and months in each other's company and this meant that they were amongst the most tight-knit and family-like crews of the service the arrival of these new aircraft in the atlantic and caribbean waters was well timed german u-boats had recently changed tactics rather than suffering air attacks from beneath the waves many had refitted with better anti-aircraft weaponry expecting to tangle with the relatively weak patrol aircraft that they had encountered thus far they got a nasty surprise when the enormous bulk of the mariner descended upon them much like a steel whale brandishing a pair of machine guns and dropping high explosives with extreme prejudice the martin mariner saw plenty of action in this theater particularly when the u-boats launched a new campaign that targeted allied shipping in the caribbean looming overhead the pbms became a welcome site for allied convoys and along with other aircraft and destroyers the type assisted in 10 u-boat kills during 1942 and 1943. one famous pbm3c named nickelboat sank two u-boats one on the 17th of may 1943 and the other on the 19th of july ongoing experience in anti-submarine patrols led to reports that most of the mariners defensive armament was superfluous as they were rarely in a location that risked an encounter with enemy aircraft as a result of this 94 pbm-3s were modified to become the pbm-3s a dedicated sub-hunting variant the top turret was removed and fed over the nose turret was replaced by a simple mount for twin brownings the tail gun installation was simplified but retained a single 50 cal and one waist gun was removed with the navigator sitting in the position previously occupied by the gunner these anti-submarine mariners were painted in overall white with grey upper surfaces much like the schemes found on aircraft operated by the british coastal command they operated exclusively in the atlantic some being allocated to the coast guard in 1944 while others continued to patrol the zone of the panama canal for the entirety of their service life now speaking of coastal command as the war in the atlantic raged on the british admiralty contemplated the use of the mariner within their own ranks coastal command already had a commendable flying boat the short sunderland in fact the mariner and sunderland were similar in many ways both having exceptional range versatility and both came with a range of facilities to accommodate their crew but there was a lingering concern that the supply of british aircraft may not keep pace with the demands of coastal command and so the mariner was considered 32 pbm 3cs were converted to a new standard the pbm3b and sent to britain under the len lease program in british hands they were known as the mariner gr mark 1 with the first arriving in august of 1943 and all were assigned to the specially formed number 524 operational training squadron unlike the catalina which was used in great numbers by the british the mariner was flown for only a few months before the decision was taken not to adopt it apparently one large flying boat was enough to manage as it was some of the aircraft were sent back to america but 12 were retained converted into transports and given over to the royal australian air force flying with the number 41 squadron they provided long-range support for the raf during the island hopping campaigns against the japanese and they remained in service until 1946 while they were doing sterling work in hunting down the u-boat menace the martin mariner had yet to make an appearance in the biggest theater for the flying boat the pacific this changed with the pbm 3d intended to take part in the multitude of planned island assaults it was improved in almost every way to make it stronger faster and more survivable defensive armament was increased to eight fifty caliber machine guns two in the nose two in the dorsal position two in the tail and one on each side of the waists armor protection was significantly increased for the crew particularly the pilot cabin and nose and martin introduced a new type of bullet resistant fuel cells which was the single largest boost in the aircraft's survivability testing on the prototype model a converted c variant showed that the existing engine was not up to the task and so an upgraded version of the cyclone was installed that put out 1900 horsepower unfortunately early production models of the new cyclone engine came with faulty valve seats and any of the pbms fitted with this power plant were plagued with engine problems until the early engines were phased out one pbm 3d equipped with these recalcitrant engines had a remarkable adventure while it was being ferried over arizona in the spring of 1944. the aircraft suffered an engine failure and the pilot patrol plane commander scott fitzgerald set it down neatly on wilcox dry lake east of tucson the ground was smooth with the landing causing some scraping to the hull but no significant damage the mariner was stripped down of all non-essential items fitted with specially modified beaching gear turned into the wind and then took off from the dry lake bed finally arriving in san diego with no further trouble after this incident the aircraft was known as the mirage of the wilcox dry lake and this was a nickname that stuck with it for the rest of its time pbm 3ds were in action in the pacific by the time operation forager the marianas campaign kicked off in mid-1944 in the pacific theater pbms primarily flew anti-submarine patrol surface patrol and dumbo air sea rescue missions although they also carried out anti-shipping missions as well and by the time the marianas were secure the pbm 3d was joined by the penultimate version of the mariner the pbm5 before the pbm 3d or even the 3cs had rolled out from the martin plants it had been recognized that the performance of the mariner was being held back by its engine a new pbm4 series was planned with the power plant being the right r3350-8 cyclone which was more powerful at over 2000 horsepower initial orders were placed with martin in 1941 but then the limited supply of the engines became a bottleneck for potential production lines and the order for the pbm4 was cancelled in its place came the pbm5 authorized by the navy in 1943 the pbm-5 was an even more powerful improvement on the mariner design it was now powered by a pair of new larger prattan whitney r2800-34 twin wasps these put out 2100 horsepower and drove a pair of three blade propellers though later on these were replaced by steel four blade units built by curtis along with the more powerful engines the pbm5 was the first mariner to have the provision for jet or rocket-assisted takeoff flying boats have to reach a certain speed to get on the plane of the water so that the majority of the hull is out of the water and thus not causing hydrodynamic drag the application of rocket assisted takeoff allowed mariners to get up to the speed with higher loads which meant they could bring either more fuel more payload or both depending on mission requirements deliveries of the pbm 5 began in august 1944 with 589 delivered before the end of the war and the abrupt termination of production the pbm 5 was a mainstay of naval patrol squadrons in the last year of the conflict as the allies island hopped their way toward japan pbms were never far from the forward areas often moving into the waters around islands that hadn't even been secured yet in order to operate pbms in such far-flung locations as these the navy built or converted scores of destroyer and escort-sized ships into seaplane support tugs avps destroyer seaplane tenders abd's and seaplane tenders avs the majority of these ships provided bunk space and limited maintenance support to pbm crews in austere locations with protected anchorages and to deal with the more serious repair needs the larger purpose-built seaplane tenders were equipped with heavy lift derricks capable of hoisting the flying boats out of the water entirely and onto the deck these ships were definitely needed as the pbm started to take a beating in the pacific and not all of it was due to enemy action martin's initial decision to go with a two-engine design was now starting to haunt them even with the improved pratt and whitney engines the mariners still felt somewhat underpowered this was not only a performance issue but a safety issue as well the lack of power meant that the aircraft needed more sea room to take off and this was compounded in rough weather the battering from large waves sometimes led to structural failures in the hull and sometimes it led to the aircraft violently nosing over often with fatal consequences a former ordnance specialist aboard a mariner remarked that when they took off in rough weather the decks of all the nearby ships would be lined with the men waiting to see if they'd even make it it was around this time that the mariner had also earned the ominous nickname of flying gas tank as the fuel tanks often leaked so many fumes into the hull that crashes sometimes resulted in violent explosions there are even reports of unexplained mid-flight explosions both during the war and after and for wartime mariners this may have been caused by a number of things the lighting of the galley stove being one of them now while this sounds like the mariner had a proclivity for detonating like a fuel bomb it really wasn't all that common it was just a case of a few incidences giving it an overly dark reputation the engine problems were more of an issue but with the use of the aforementioned rocket assisted takeoff pods the issue was somewhat rectified and it meant that the mariners remained in the pacific for the most important year of their service 1945. in the spring of 1945 mariners saw some of their most active service in support of the invasion of okinawa operating from kara moreto a small island group southwest of okinawa they carried out anti-shipping operations against small enemy convoys and rescued the crews of boeing b-29s lost whilst bombing japan as well as those of carrier planes downed in combat between formosa and the japanese home islands some were painted black for night operations similar to the famous black cat catalinas known as night mariners their name was shortened to the nickname of nightmare and whether this was a reflection of the crew's experience of torpedo missions at night or the enemy's experience of a flying canteen dropping high explosive ordnance on their heads is a matter of debate they were also used to bomb shore installations on a number of smaller islands as the campaign progressed and as they got closer to the home islands this meant more frequent encounters with enemy fighters bristling with defenses the mariners proved quite difficult to knock out of the sky when they weren't full of highly explosive vapour many returned to their floating base at kurama with flack and bullet holes by the score sometimes missing significant chunks out of the hull or tail and while some did partly break up on landing when the sea got rough many more were patched up to fight another day though they were often tangling with the japanese fighters sent to intercept them mariner crews also had to deal with an unwelcome amount of fire from their own team during the okinawa invasion ships and knight fighters became very touchy about plane identification kamikaze attacks were making any aircraft that came near the fleet suspect even when its iff was showing and all too often it seemed the pbm's iff wasn't showing the cause of this problem was the nature of the pbm mariners environment as it turned out taking off and landing in seas with a 10 to 15 foot running swell produced bumps and jolts that weren't overly kind to delicate equipment sometimes the radar could be knocked out and other times the iff registered its protest in the form of complete failure this problem became a considerable headache for those in command with one tasker commander stating that our effort to perfect the pbm iff continues unremittingly the equipment has become a fetish with the pilots and electronic maintenance personnel the following incident however indicates that pbm iff does not show effectively to fight aircraft he then proceeds to describe an incident where an agitated knights pilot offered to fire a volley of warning shots into a pbm whose iff he thought was switched off but in fact turned out to be faulty but despite the efforts of the enemy the elements their own ships and the occasional unwelcome appearance of a shallow reef many pbm mariners survived the war they were used extensively in the early occupational responsibilities from northern japan to coastal china and many islands across the vastness of the pacific as a lot of these islands now had convenient runways courtesy of both the japanese and u.s island hopping campaigns the mariners lack of amphibious landing gear became somewhat of a liability this led to the last production model the pbm 5a 40 of these amphibious models were eventually delivered four were factory conversions and 36 built as such from the outset when the last of these rolled out of the martin plant in 1949 it represented the culmination of nearly a decade of production 1366 of these large aircraft had been built which by flying boat standards is not an inconsiderable amount and their work was by no means over during the nuclear tests of operation crossroads at bikini atoll mariners of vbb-32 squadron were assigned as support aircraft being nicknamed the atomic airline mariners were also used on admiral byrd's high jump expedition to explore the antarctic and made the closest approach to the south pole by a seaplane at the time and when the korean war kicked off mariners found themselves in wartime service once again six squadrons including some activated preserve units rotated deployments during the conflict with mariners flying patrol routes of 9 to 12 hours often along the coasts of china north korea and manchuria they also patrolled the tsushima and formosa straits performing a role new to mariner crews and a delight to their gunners where they detonated sea mines with the use of their defensive machine guns including service with argentina and uruguay which reached into the 1960s the pbm had a service life that lasted over two decades it was a patrol aircraft a naval bomber a submarine hunter a transport a rescue plane and it was a flying floating home away from home for its crew most of whom regarded the mariner warmly despite this and it's not insignificant contribution to the war effort in both the atlantic and the pacific it has fallen into obscurity which is a shame the tail end of its service life being fraught by a series of fatal accidents certainly didn't help and it gained the reputation of being somewhat of a widowmaker in its final years according to the aviation safety network database between 1945 and 1959 no less than 18 major accidents involving mariners occurred many of these appear to have been from engine failures but at least two according to records were the result of mid-flight explosions and one mariner flying for a portuguese airline and laden with 30 passengers simply disappeared its last radio message was the ominous q-u-g which meant i am forced to land immediately some of these accidents were a relic of the old problems underpowered engines and leaky fuel tanks but others were the result of old worn out aircraft that simply weren't maintained to the standards required but regardless of the cause the damage to its reputation was almost irreparable as mentioned at the start of this video only one pbm mariner survives today a situation not helped by the aforementioned accidents it's owned by the smithsonian but currently on loan at pima also in the smithsonian inventory is the legacy of its development the original 3 8 scale model after its usefulness was over an enterprising hand at martin put the model into storage and some years later it was donated to the smithsonian air and space facility in 1953 though it replaced the pby catalina in many of its frontline roles during the last year of the second world war it was the catalina not the martin mariner that would survive for decades and lodge itself in the hearts and minds of the general public was this because the catalina was objectively better than the mariner i don't think so i think their designs were different enough that they suited slightly different niches in the post-war era did the catalina offer more flexibility than the mariner probably and it certainly had a better safety record but catalina versus marine arguments aside the many aircrews who called this aircraft their home for countless missions during the war almost unanimously believe that the old mariner doesn't get the credit it deserves so hopefully this video did a little to rectify that once again thank you to war thunder for sponsoring today's video don't forget to register your account for free using the link below to get those free premium benefits and hopefully i'll bump into you in a plane tank or boat the next time i hop online as always thank you all so much for watching and a big thank you of course to the patrons with a special shout out to kevin deliado bain fb christopher r tronathon eric heinmann john austin jr ray colotta keith terrier green sea ships northland's webb mct ted parsons and capitano lorenzo for their support as wing commander here patrons thank you all so much and i'll catch you all next time goodbye

Channel: Rex's Hangar

Views: 1,400,003

Keywords: martin pbm mariner, pbm mariner, flying boat, rex's hangar, rexs hangar, plane video, ww2 documentary, pacific war, martin mariner, pby catalina, flying boat ww2, forgotten aircraft, us navy aircraft, ww2 pacific war, war whales, fighting flying boat, okinawa ww2, battle of the atlantic

Id: lotxWVgXnuM

Length: 32min 41sec (1961 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 17 2022