A brief overview of the 21 P4M-1 Mercators; 18 of which were modified into P4M-1Q COMINT/ELINT/SIGINT variants operationally flown by VQ-1 and VQ-2 and their predecessor Units/Dets from Oct 1951 through May 1960. Near the end of WW2 - in 1944 - in a U.S. Navy competitive bid contest to build a new long range patrol bomber, the Martin P4M Mercator design lost out to the Lockheed P2V Neptune. Martin was given the consolation prize, a 6 July 1944 contract to develop a long range mine-laying aircraft (Incidentally the AJ-Savage, the first Navy specially-built strategic nuclear bomber to operate from carriers had a secondary role as a long range mine-layer). An armed prototype Mercator (nose, waist, tail 50 cal.), Buno O2789, and a slick unarmed prototype, Buno 02790 (photo linked below), first flew in late 1946. Each had 2 Pratt & Whitney R4360 28 cylinder radial engines with 2 Allison J-33 jets mounted behind each propeller engine, all burning 115/145 AvGas. 19 armed mine-laying Neptunes were ordered by the Navy; and deliveries began in September 1949, with newer versions of the engines, 20mm in the nose, and no waist guns. There was no accompanying replacement parts contract. In June 1950, VP-21 (tail code HC) deployed to Port Lyautey, French Morocco, with 8 of the Mercators - where the 8/9-man crews flew them around for a couple of years, rarely, if ever, practicing mine-laying - but were great VIP and boondoggle planes. Someone, somewhere, had their eye on the Mercator development as a replacement for the then Navy PB4Y and P2V ELINT ferret aircraft, and production Mercators out of the Maryland plant soon were going to NARF Norfolk to be converted into P4M-1Q (Version 1) Mercators - first flight February 1951, operational in the Phillipines October 1951. Eventually all 19 production Mercators were converted, with the -1Q (Version 2) done at NARF in 1953/1954. With the added electronics the Version 2s grossed at a max 92,500#. VQ-1/2 flew with 14 to 18 man crews. Dispositions of P4M-1Qs 121451 - Delivered from VQ-1 Japan to Norfolk 17 May 1954, Struck off (SOC) 12 October 1956 121452 - NATC Patuxent River MD, 1st P4M-1Q conversion, crashed into Chesapeake Bay 8 March 1951, all 4 crew killed 121453 - Delivered from VQ-2 to NAS Litchfield 13 November 1956 121454 - Delivered from VQ-2 to NAS Litchfield 13 November 1956 122207 - Scrapped VQ-2 Rota 15 April 1960 122208 - Scrapped NAS Norfolk November 1956 122209 - VQ-1 Attacked by North Korean MIGs 16 June 1959 fly.historicwings/2013/06/intercepted/ 124362 - VQ-1 Staging from Iwakuni, Japan on 22 August 1956; Shot down off Wenchai, China. Fatalities: Ltjg. James B. Deane, Ltjg. Francis A. Flood,Jr, Lcdr. Milton Hutchinson, Lcdr. JamesW.Ponsford, AT2 Donald Wayne Barber, AO2 Warren Edgar Caron, AT3 Jack Albert Curtis, AT1 William Frederick Haskins, AO3 William Michael Humbert, AD1 H.E. Lounsbury, AT1 Albert Perry Mattin, AT2 Carl Edwin Messinger, AE2 Wallace Powell, AT3 Donald Eugene Sprinkle, AT2 Leonard Strykowski, AD3 Lloyd Lewayne Young 124363 - Scrapped VQ-1 Atsugi 30 June 1960, with final ceremony on 2 July 1960 - the last Mercators 124364 - Scrapped NAS Alameda 5 April 1960 124365 - VQ-2 Staging from Incirlik AB, Adana, Turkey. Crash site 41 NM from Incirlik AB. Crashed into ravine on mountain top. Fatalities: Lcdr. Franklin B. Moore, Lcdr. Warren J. Hampton, Lt. Thomas H. Edgerton, Ltjg. Donald C. McIntyre, Ltjg. Robert E. Ogden, ATC John M. Boling, AD1 Joseph A. Cote, AT1 Marvin A. Radtke, AE1 Murph J. Martinez, Jr., AO2 Richard C. Nuzum, AT2 John M. Criswell, AT2 Harold L. Berg, AQ2 Richard D. Crittenden, AT3 Francis E. Tomkousig, AM3 Rex Gregory, AN Billy C. Sullivan 124366 - Scrapped VQ-1 Atsugi 19 June 1960 124367 - Scrapped VQ-2 Rota 7 April 1960 124368 - Scrapped VQ-1 Atsugi 30 June 1960, with final ceremony on 2 July 1960 - the last Mercators 124369 - Scrapped NAS Litchfield 13 November 1956 124370 - Scrapped NAS Norfolk 2 October 1956 124371 - NCU-32G based in Port Lyautey, French Morocco, staging out of Nicosia, Cyprus. Returning from the Black Sea made an open ocean dead-stick landing east of Cyprus 6 November 1952. Fatality: Lt. Robert Hager. Fourteen survivors were rescued by HMS Chevron. 124372 - VQ-2 Incident 19 November 1957. Struck off (SOC) 27 July 1958. 124373 - VQ-2 Ferrying from Port Lyautey, French Morocco, via Lajes, Azores, via Bermuda, to Norfolk, Va. 6 January 1958. Crashed on final approach at 22 St. and E. Ocean Ave., Oceanview, Virginia. Fatalities: PHC Richard Demoss, AQ1 Robert Danner,AD1 William Peter, AA Thomas Hinton.
Posted on: Sat, 13 Dec 2014 21:02:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015