Martin PM-1

Martin PM-1


By the mid-1920s, the U.S. Navy was using about 120 patrol flying boats, mostly obsolete first-war H-16, HS-2L or just postwar F-5L. So it urgently needed a new type to replace all these machines. Until 1928, however, there was a lack of a machine suitable for these purposes, or a lack of money. In that year, the US Navy's Naval Aircraft Factory developed the proven F-5L prototype PN-12, which the Navy eventually chose as its new standard type. However, because the NAF did not have sufficient production capacity, arrangements were made for production by other manufacturers - Martin, Douglas, Keystone, and Hall Aluminum.


The products of these companies ultimately differed from each other in many details. At Martin, which received an order for 25 machines in May 1929, they built an essentially faithful copy of the PN-12 under the designation PM-1, which retained the classic fuselage in the line of the F-5L with sponsons, i.e., water wings on the sides of the fuselage, which was all-metal compared to its ancestor. The wings were also all-metal, covered with canvas. The inter-wing struts were simplified as much as possible, and two cowled nine-cylinder Wright R-1750D Cyclone radial engines were used. Five more were ordered for the Navy, but only 27 machines were eventually taken delivery - three were diverted to Brazil, which was buying the equipment in an effort to arm itself against the rebel Liberal Alliance, led by Rio Grande do Sul governor Getulio Vargas. These "PM-1Bs", however, did not arrive until December 1930, when the revolution was victorious and Vargas became not only their new user, but also the ruler of Brazil for the next 15 years. In US Navy service, the PM-1s mostly replaced the floatplane T4M-1, with users such as the VP-3S, VP-8S, VP-9S, and VP-10S squadrons eventually becoming their users. While the latter replaced them with the P2Y-1 as early as 1933, the VP-9s lasted until August 1937, and were used as temporary armament for the newly formed VP-16F and VP-17F squadrons in the same year before they could receive the new PBY-2 Catalinas.

Source:
http://www.faqs.org/docs/air/avmars.html#m1
www.hq.nasa.gov
http://www.aero-web.org/specs/martin/pm-1.htm
http://www.aerofiles.com/_martin.html
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/dictvol2.htm

Některé ze strojů byly dodatečně vybaveny novou krytou kabinou, obdobnou jako u typu Hall PH-2, a kterou dostaly i stroje Martin PM-2. Letoun na fotografii byl 3. ledna 1937 zničen při kolizi s Berliner-Joyce OJ-2 poblíž letiště firmy Boeing v Seattlu.

Fotografie pochází z archivu RAAF Museum, kolekce Paddyho Heffernana.

Zdroj:
www.warbirdinformationexchange.org
joebaugher.com