Martin 162 / PBM Mariner

I had the good fortune to be on BA 3, VP47 1951-1952.Lt. James Amos wass PPC, with other officers compiling the crew. One young officer, was Ens. Richard Zeisel, later retired as Captain. Other officers I recall were LtJg James Campbell, Ens. Lee Marshall and Ensign Karcher. Some enlisted men were as follows: Bob Amaral Am3,Warren SappAD1,Charles Medicus AL2 Radio /radar,Glenn Taylor ADAN, AOC Allen and myself, Richard Florence AO3. I was aircrew, flying out of the Pescadores islands,(Taiwan) and Buckner Bay Okinawa. I remember some very challenging times out of The Pescadores, Buckner and Sangley Point PI as well. One thing that stands out in my memory, was teh call that Mr. Amos wanted his coffee on the flight deck. Mr.Amos would call out, "After Station, secure the put-putt(Auxiliary Powere Unit)! That meant for the ordnance men in the galley to get that coffee going! I only missed the call one time! That was enough. I got the message. I was fortunate, as I was able to learn a lot form the "seasoned crew of BA3.: Great time.

Buoy made!

Richard Florence AO3 VP 47 1950-1952

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Flew PBM's from Coco Solo, as a FE on EE-12.
Had some superb personnel, pilots et al.
Also had a few hrs. in P5M1's.
Went on to spend several years in Willy Victors, Barrier (Pacific) and typhoon tracking out of Guam.
Had many GREAT times & some not so great, as did we all.

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Correction to my e mail address on previous comment it is will36@q.com would like to hear from anyone that served at ATU 501 when I was there.

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I was an AT3 with ATU 501 NAS Corpus Christi Texas and flew on the PBM 5s as a radio and radar operator from late 1955 to late 1956. I made many training flights over the Gulf of Mexico without any mishaps. I really enjoyed flying on these aircraft and the water operations were a blast. I'm now a retired electrical engineer living in the Salt lake City area.

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I crawled all over one of these,dumped as scrap,at Lungwha Airfield,on the outskirts of Shanghai,late 1945,along with a C-46 Curtis Commando. Brand new Ryan PT-22s were also being assembled,out of packing cases, for the budding Chinese National Air Force ~ before the Country went 'red'.

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Lenght not 34,4m but 24,38m

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ACAN at KGUM - Great recreation riding the base PBM from NAS Agana to Saipan and Tinian and back on the "milk run" 1952 and '53.

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I flew with VR-6 in PBM-3R's,from Dinner Key Florida to Natal and Belem Brazil and all the Carribean Islands inbetween, including an occasional hurrican during 1944 and 1945. Flew PBM-5 and PBM-5S from 1945 to 1949. with VP-28, VPMS-3, VPMS-6 in the Phillippines and Siapan including the Atomic Energy tests at Eniwetok. Flew cover on Atomic device number 5 at 1500 feet and about 8 miles at the time of detonation. Reached the speed of 185 knots going away from the explosion. The PBM was a great seaplane.

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I was an Aviation Radioman 3 /c in VPB-21 from March 1944 until March 1945, Crew V12. Our Squadron was one of the first in the Pacific area flying the PBM-3D's. The History of VPB-21 is told in a book written by DONALD SWEET,called "SAILOR aVIATORS". He flew in crew V-14 during this same period. Any questions, try my E-Mail.

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The LAST PBM type is in in Tuscon at the Primus air museum and it is a 5A. So there are NO actual PBM'S in existance.

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I was fortunate to fly with VP-46,47,& VP42 out of San Diego,Iwakauni, Sanglely Point. When we went to Alameda we got virtually new planes that were stored in a hanger. There were 22 A /C in the hanger with the wings off. Flew out of Iwakauni during the Korean war and stayed in as a radio /radar man till the war was over.One of Our Pilot's name was Amos and his son is incomming commadant of the Marine Corp. Had something like 2200 hrs in the plane and it was totally different then my Comanche A /C.

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I am a former Navy aircrewman with VP-40 from 1965-67 and an author and historian on Martin seaplanes. I published the first book on the P5M Marlin in 1994 and offer videos, flight manuals, prints and drawings on the P5M and PBM Mariner. For more information visit www VPMMA org

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I was with VP-34, a PBM squadron in Trinidad Jan, 1954-June, 1955 when tne squadron was moved to Panama and transferred out of squadron March,1956.Looking for anyone stationd in Trinidad and /or VP-34.

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Hello
My dad served on a PBM5 with VPB18 in WWII. His squadron has been holding reunions each year for the last several years. Each year fewer and fewer members are able to attend. However, they would love to see any one from VPB18 or others that would be interested in listening or sharing.
Also I am looking for any pictures of a PBM with torpedoes mounted.
Thanks, Jim

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I was an Aviation Electronics Technician at NAS Corpus Christie Texas in 1955. Our crew prepared all sorts of WW2 "birds" for mothballing at Olathe Kansas, driest place in the US. We also readied some for flights by foreign navies (gave them away). One day while test flying an R5D my crew leader yelled for me to "take a look down". In the Corpus Christie bay, a PBM was sinking, the engines ripped from the wings, hull split open, the foreign crew bailing out in life rafts. This was an error from landing too hard from about 100 feet up because of misuse of the APN-1 altimeter; it had to be manually set once below 500 feet to read accurately at low flight. If not, the altimeter read like you were almost on the water and cutting power at 100-200 feet caused you to drop like a rock, an uncontrolled crash landing on the water, like concrete to a seaplane. This had happened before.
Flying in seaplanes was ugly, the bilges held a putrid, stinking liquid that sloshed about, especially while on the water, these monsters stunk like rotten garbage, rattled like inside a tin can factory and vibrated so violently you could not stand after 3 hours of flight. They were a miserable excuse for an airplane actually a huge metal boat with wings and engines, flying in them on a regular mission basis must have been a punishing experience.

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Served in CocoSolo Panama during the Korean war period in VP45 as a radio / radar operator as crewmember on Easy Easy 3 Bu. 98611 First trip to Gitmo as crewmember rode the PBM-5s bareback on takeoff for a short while, before sliding feet first thru the astrodome hatch, landing on the main deck,to the amazement of the ordinanceman who told me to take the firebottle up on the wing to check for fire while the engines were started.My first time on a plane !Didnt know to get in side as soon as both engines started.I heard about that the whole time I was in the squadron!!

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I was an instructor
I WAS ASSIGNED SEA PLANES IN ADVANCED TRAINING IN THE EARLY 50'S. I WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED AT FIRST. I WAS PLOWED BACK AS AN INSTRUCTOR IN ATU-501 IN CORPUS CHRISTI AND CONSIDER MYSELF TO HAVE BEEN VERY FORTUNATE TO HAVE BEEN A PART OF NAVAL AVIATION THAT HAS SINCE DISSAPEARED. I AM A RETIRED AIRLINE CAPTAIN AND STILL LOOK BACK FONDLY TO ON MY DAYS IN THE PBM-5.

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Note to Patrick T. Carey: Please contact me as I have tons of information. I tried the email address you posted but haven't gotten a reply.

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Correction to my earlier post. He was posted at corpus christy TX, not Galvaston. A big thrill for him was to see one again at the Pima Air Museum, although it was one outfitted with wheels (his was only for water, had to swim out and attach wheels to bring it on land)

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My father was a radio man on a PBM during WWII. He did training in Galvaston Texas, and if the war continued, would have gone onto San Diego to be assigned a plane, then fly it to be outfitted with guns. He always talked about sitting through a hurricane in TX because of engine problems, and not being able to fly it out.

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