XPBM-2 Catapult launch....

[Michel Lemieux]

XPBM-2 Catapult launch....

Now that must've been quite a ride on take off!!!!

Pretty good quick read.

Does anyone remember seeing a picture of a floating PBM on an elevated rig used on the ocean with advance acoustic surveillance equipment? The intent was to fly to the surveillance area and lift the plane hign above the water. Quite high actually. I remember seing this in an old book. But...cannot find any online references to it.

http://www.nnapprentice.com/alumni/letter/USS_AVC_1.pdf

http://www.navsource.org/archives/14/6801.htm

[Michel Lemieux]

Impressive change of range. Must have been fun to shoot dead weight concrete just for the fun of it!

Dead load testing of the catapult using weights of up to 60,000 pounds were then successfully conducted. Available records do not indicate when the modified
Martin Mariner was first catapulted from the barge, but that event likely took place in late May 1942.

The XPBM-2 's airframe had been reinforced to survive the stress of repeated catapult launches. Overloaded, its fuel capacity had been increased from 2,700 gallons to 4,815 gallons, giving it a range of 4,000 miles.

[Michel Lemieux]

Weee....found what I was looking for!!!!

And yes, I did grab a low res from the document and will remove it if asked. That is the same picture from a very old book.

But I cannot find any references to the apparatus and its use. Goodyear Sea Leg(s).

http://www.letletlet-warplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Martin_Mariner.pdf

Nice PDF flyer on the bird.

[Michel Lemieux]

No takers on what that contraption is?

[airnutz]

Tho I've seen the "Sea Legs" before, I haven't found anything about it in my library yet. Being Goodyear, I'd guess it's a rubber and/or pneumatic device. Maybe to raise a flying boat away from rough seas...perhaps moreso in less than ideal anchorage locations?

Edit

[Michel Lemieux]

But how do you get it there? And how do you attach it to the plane while it's in the water?

I saw a pic of the plane being lifter with a crane to get it on the apparatus

[Larry Kraus]

Michel,

Check your PM’s. I sent a copy of a page from Steve Ginter’s “PBM Mariner Naval Fighters # 97” that explains more about the Sea Stilt program. Basically, the rig that was posted was a proof of concept. The idea was to provide a stable platform for using dipping sonar. The production version would have been retractable and inflatable.

As a comparison, a standard PBM landed next to the Sea Stilt PBM in 4-5 foot swells. The crew of the standard PBM was seasick within a short period. The crew on the Sea Stilt PBM was perfectly comfortable. In order to use the dipping sonar, the PBM would have to set down on the water for an extended period. Eventually, the whole idea of dipping sonar in seaplanes was dropped in favor of other ASW platforms.

I’d post the page from the book, but I don’t have the author’s permission to do so.

[Michel Lemieux]

Thank you sooo much Larry!!!!

I know we can count on the WIX brain trust to get answers

Now that would have been a real inflatable nightmare to do !!!!!

The rigidity required to float that weight out of the water at that height would have been a heavy proposal.

How heavy was the PBM and make sure it would stay afloat at that height during stormy weather......

I would have been curious to see if any official proposal existed for a factory design of the inflatable version!!!! Not what you are all thinking about.....