Robert F. Dorr is an author, U.S. Air Force veteran, and retired American diplomat who... © 2020 Defense Media Network. Martin responded with the Model 275. AFSOC Breaks Ground on Non-standard Aircraft Simulator Facility, Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller Announces Troop Withdrawals in Afghanistan and Iraq, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 Astronauts Dock With International Space Station, VA Research: The VA National Precision Oncology Program, Top Military Shots DEC 13, 2019 | Photo Gallery, Top Military Shots Oct 18, 2019 | Photo Gallery, Top Military Shots Oct 11, 2019 | Photo Gallery, USS Indianapolis (LCS 17) Completes Trials | Video, Army Research Lab Selects 3D Systems to Develop World’s Largest, Fastest Metal Powder 3D Printer, Top Military Shots Oct 24, 2019 | Photo Gallery, Top Military Shots Oct 4, 2019 | Photo Gallery, Top Military Shots Sep 27, 2019 | Photo Gallery. On the basis of early flight tests, the Navy placed a subsequent order for 24 production P6M-2 aircraft, which differed in being powered by 17,000-pound non-afterburning Pratt & Whitney J75-P-2-PW turbojet engines and fixed some of the faults found in the XP6M-1. Proposals to build a … were destroyed during test flights in the air, but one had passed Mach 1 and landed safely.). by Orbis Publishing Ltd. and Aerospace Publishing Ltd. four 5.900kg Alllison-J71 turbojets with afterburners (YP6M-1) or, Six or eight .050 machine guns in the nose and amidships turrets. The P6M-1 SeaMaster had a T-tail. It was one of the last Navy planes to be painted in the familiar blue color scheme before the service changed, that year, to a gray and white color combination. You can see its configuration above, but it�s 05.1956. The enthusiasm over their graceful appearance was well founded, but their story turned out to embody tragic elements. Pneumatic tubes sealed the opening around the hull weapons door. Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 1/5/2015 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com The Cold War (1947-1991) period was one of technological advancement whose momentum was driven by developments during World War 2 (1939-1945). Robert F. Dorr One day in 58 I heard a different sound and looked up to see the Seamaster with an FJ4 in chase. The SeaMaster weighed 160,000 pounds on takeoff, and was 134 feet long, with a wingspan of 102 feet. And the most ambitious seaplane ever planned in the United States came into being – the Martin P6M SeaMaster, a graceful, four-jet flying boat almost the size of a B-52 Stratofortress. The Navy had no air refueling tankers, no submarines capable of refueling the SeaMaster far from home, and no handy way to cope with mechanical breakdowns in an aircraft sent afar on a solo assignment. reply. Evaluations showed that the P6M was superior to the B-52 in low-level speed and its Martin XP6M-1 SeaMaster (P6M prototype). By I don�t remember details or my source, that�s why I�m presenting the following infos under The SeaMaster was to have a pressurized cockpit and crew of four, including pilot, copilot, navigator / radio operator, and flight engineer. 1 SeaMaster broke up, exploded, and burned on a flight over the Chesapeake. and B-52, the Navy with carrier-based bombers (not so successful) and with this flying boat. It was envisaged as a strategic bomber with the primary role of mine-laying, although it could also drop conventional bombs and be used for maritime reconnaissance. Built by Martin (a predecessor of today’s Lockheed Martin) in Baltimore and tested in the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, the first XP6M-1 made its maiden flight on July 14, 1955. The jet flying boat would then have a combat radius of up to 3,000 miles. - April 26, 2017, A P6M-2 SeaMaster on the water at speed. Only twelve examples of the Martin P6M SeaMaster jet-powered flying boat were eventually realized. Unfortunately, the SeaMaster initially “had design flaws and underperforming engines,” said Stan Piet of the Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum in Baltimore. The first of two prototypes, designated the XP6M-1, made its first flight on July 14, 1955. The SeaMaster’s ordnance delivery system was a Martin trademark, a variation of a feature found on the company’s XB-51 and B-57 bombers. My Dad, Harvey Hop Sr. Cdr and XO of Electronics test was being groomed for the first P6M squadron commander job. Known to the manufacturer as the Martin Model 275, the design that emerged had an all-metal hull of high length/beam ratio, mounting a high-set wing, sharply swept at 40 degrees, which incorporated so much anhedral (or negative dihedral) that the stabilizing floats on the wingtips were attached permanently.