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Today we’re taking a look at the Martin PBM Mariner, an often forgotten flying boat that was primarily operated by the US Navy. It saw extensive service in the Second World War and distinguished itself in both the Atlantic and Pacific, but it has mostly been forgotten and overshadowed by the PBY Catalina.
Sources:
Ginter.S (2013), Martin PBM Mariner (Naval Fighters) – https://geni.us/i6gBWZg
Hoffman.R.A (2004), The Fighting Flying Boat: A History of the Martin PBM Mariner – https://geni.us/2rBTZI
Smith.B (1986), PBM Mariner in action – https://geni.us/CIXyVS
The Bureau of Aeronautics, Navy Department, (1944), “Martin PBM-3D 1943 Pilot’s Handbook of Flight Operating Instructions”.
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Video footage courtesy of the National Archives: https://www.archives.gov/
0:00 Intro
2:48 Prototype Development
8:39 Early Service Life Pre-War
12:20 PBM-3, First To See War
14:46 Anti-Submarine Efforts
18:24 Into the Pacific!
21:07 PBM-5 & Pacific Action
27:17 Postwar Service & Legacy
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Producing these videos is a hobby of mine – and apparently its now a full-time job too! I have a passion for history, and personally own a large collection of books, journals and other texts, and endeavor to do as much research as possible. However if there are any mistakes, please don’t hesitate to reach out and correct anything 🙂
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F.A.Q Section
Q: Do you take aircraft requests?
A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:)
Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others?
A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both.
Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos?
A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips 🙂
Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators?
A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.
Feel free to leave you questions below – I may not be able to answer all of them, but I will keep my eyes open 🙂
The Martin PBM Mariner beautiful? Well, as much as a Mack truck!
Thanks for adding this. From 1955-1960 the Royal Dutch Navy bought 17 PBM-5A's flying combat and reconnaissance missions over then Dutch New Guinea (now West Papua) before the handover to the UN and later Indonesia in 1962. The planes were plagued by engine failures and lack of parts. After a few fatal crashes the planes were decommissioned and replaced by Lockheed Neptunes and Grumman Trackers.
is that paint anti-flash white? were they carrying nuclear depth charges or something?
The only reason I know about this plane boat was because COD WaW
Good video
Rex, congratulations, very nice video! On 18min15sec there is a photograph of my home touwn, Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, while it is said that the Mariner was used in the Pacific. Although it is not said that this photo was taken on the Pacific theater, it is curious to see these planes there in the South Atlantic, was there records that they operated there, or it just an occasional tour? Thanks for someone that knoes the answer!
What if I want to reenact FURY
Both planes have their strengths and uses. I like the looks of both too.
I want a flying boat house.
My Dad crewed on the PBM-5 after his time on the PBY. (I was born at the time of his PBM duty.) After that he also served on the Consolidated PB4Y2 and Martin P4M during his 20-year Navy career. I appreciate being able to learn more here about the PBMs.
Excellent vid. Well researched with excellent vintage clips.
Good video
Favorite American flying boat
Coronado (core-oh-NAH-doe)
It's such a shame that so many WW2 aircraft have no surviving airworthy examples.
My father flew the PBM5 for it's last two years (early 1950s) in VP-45 and spent the majority of his time stationed at NAS Coco-Solo, Panama. I grew up listening to his stories of the PBM Mariner and how no one really knew about the plane. I wish he could have seen this but he passed away in 2005, before YouTube.
The Mariner is overlooked, incredible performance, Pratt 2800's and very rugged, the combat missions are excellent reading! The inward angle on rudders we're peculiar. Funny how Corsair used same gull configuration in a different way for same purpose…
That is one beautiful aircraft. Great presentation. Now I want one.
Which airplane was built with twin engines but could operate on one?
I’ve seen that plane at pima! It’s size is not to be understated
🤓
A spectacular video, sir!
Well done!!
for metric enthousiasts?!? Who the heck still counts in gallons?
Um. there is actually one for sale right now… As I recall it is in very decent shape… It was used for decades in Canada as a fire suppression aircraft. Wait- on second thought, that was a MARS transport…
My dad was in a crash in Antartica during operation Highjump. The crew was Lost for 13 days and they had plenty of supplies. The picture at 30:30 is of the crash. The aircraft was named George One. And there is a good story if you look it up.
Thank You!! The Cats have long been a favorite of mine, to which I now add the Mariner! 😊
Hey! Martin built some of the most ADVANCED US Flying boats, yes… But don't forget Consolidated, the aircraft manufacturer that was delivering the Catalina and Coronado from the mid 1930s. Newly delivered units were flight tested by Navy crews who took off from the protected waters of San Diego Bay after rolling down a concrete apron and taxiing across the water.
My Dad James Donald "Pug" March served 29 years in the US Navy from the mid-1930s. He was an Aviation Chief Ordnanceman's Mate on the USS Hornet CV-8 from about spring of 1941. So he helped arm Colonel Doolittle's B-25 Bombers for the raid on the Japanese Islands. He continued with the Hornet till she was sunk by US Navy after the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, October 1942 to prevent the ship's capture by the Imperial Japanese Navy.
Afterward, I'm guessing because he'd been awarded the Navy Cross for his actions securing an unexploded Japanese bomb in the ship's final battle – and was one of the handful of some 35 of Hornet's complement of pilots, officers and sailors who actually survived to receive their Navy Cross awards – he jumped at the opportunity to train and serve as a bombardier with the crew of a Consolidated "Coronado" PB2Y, the 4-engine big sister of the better-known Consolidated Catalina PBY. I don't know how many of the first delivered 2,159 Catalinas had galleys, but during the war, Cats and Coronados had a small galley and bunks for crew for the long patrols over water.
Consolidated delivered only about 200 of the Big Coronados, before Martin began delivering their hulls with substantially improved capacity and performance. But My father flew a lot of overnight missions before that, attacking Japanese warships that had been spotted in isolated anchorages. Their missions were timed to arrive just at first light, hoping to catch the enemy crews before they were prepared. That's Astounding navigation.
Coronado Pilot Stan Mahoney published his own story "I'm in Aviation Now!" including a photo of himself and my father, and another member of his squadron, all three of'em in their Khakis sitting with big grins around a table with cold beers, in some O-club on one of the newly-liberated islands. My father never talked about combat. The stories he shared were about the friends he made, or exploring the battle-torn islands, or cobbling together a makeshift sailboat from discarded drop tanks, a few spars and parachute cloth, to tool around the lagoon among the anchored ships and Flying Boats.
Still amazed to think of the quiet, cheerful perseverance and determination of my parents and their generation.
Jeesh. If I were rich, I would want this instead of any yacht.
The bigger brother of the Mariner was the four engined Martin Mars. Amazingly they still served as water bombers fighting forest fires in Canada into the 21st century.
Holy Smokes!! Another Brilliant Video! Thanks for your research. The picture at 6:25 of the 3/8 scale prototype next to the Production version Mariner is Spectacular, as well as the close up shots of the prototype. Sounds as if that episode really underscored the utility of doing basic research with scaled versions, although it must have been done earlier.. Well, the ship-building industry has been doing that for a very long time.
You could play warthunder or watch tailspin…..