https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/20b8e643-c0b3-4134-8000-1ffc1f7b9669 Browse our products on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2YILTSD Love our channel? Help us save and post more orphaned films! Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Even a really tiny contribution can make a difference. Reel 1: https://youtu.be/Yp8G60dlW84 Reel 2: https://youtu.be/8LvbBQjorwo Reel 3:https://youtu.be/evjb4ChuOVc This silent footage dates to the time of the Martin P6M Seamaster flight test program, with the third P6M-2 production aircraft featured. At 5:17 you will see this incredible amphibian take off. After a brief flight it lands at 8:30. It's unclear but it's possible this may have been the aircraft's maiden flight. At 11:00 the aircraft is brought on shore on a dolly. You can see how it would be mated with this device at 13:40. The Martin P6M SeaMaster, built by the Glenn L. Martin Company, was a 1950s strategic bomber flying boat for the United States Navy that almost entered service; production aircraft were built and Navy crews were undergoing operational conversion, with a service entry about six months off, when the program was cancelled on 21 August 1959. Envisioned as a way to give the Navy a strategic nuclear force, the SeaMaster was eclipsed by the Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missile. Due to the political situation at the Pentagon, the Navy promoted the P6M primarily as a high speed minelayer. The first pre-production YP6M-1 was completed about a year later, with testing resuming in January 1958. Five more were built in 1958 when the Navy announced that Harvey Point Defense Testing Facility in Hertford, North Carolina, would serve as the testing grounds for the fleet of Martin P6M SeaMasters. These aircraft were fitted with test versions of the full combat equipment suite and were used for bombing, mine laying and reconnaissance evaluations. The J71 engines were unreliable and the aircraft had spray ingestion problems at higher gross weights, which limited takeoffs to ideal conditions.[6] The P6M-1 also had a serious control deficiency due to porpoising under some trim settings. These deficiencies resulted in the P6M-1 program being cut as it was no longer considered possible for it to be successfully developed. The Navy and Martin felt that a new version, the P6M-2, would provide a useful aircraft. The first was rolled out in early 1959. Changes included new, more powerful Pratt & Whitney J75 engines, an aerial refueling probe, improved avionics, and a canopy with better visibility. A buddy refueling drogue kit had also been developed to fit in the bomb bay. Three had been built by summer 1959 and Navy crews were moving them through operational conversion when the program was abruptly canceled in August of that year. The P6M-2 was an impressive aircraft; its Mach 0.9 (1,100 km/h) performance "on the deck" could be equaled by few aircraft of the time. The aircraft were heavily built, with the skin at the wing roots over 1 in (25 mm) thick. The normally docile and pleasant handling characteristics of the P6M-1 were replaced by some severe compressibility effects above Mach 0.8. These included rapid changes in directional trim, severe buffeting, and wing drop requiring high control inputs to counter. Until those problems were fixed, the P6M-2 could not be considered for use by the Fleet.[8] The problems were identified as being caused by the larger engine nacelles required for the J75s. There were also problems on the water, including a tendency for the tip floats to dig in under certain situations, and engine surges. These problems were eventually solved, but time had run out just as the first crews were training for its operational debut. Eisenhower's administration was making major defense budget cuts that forced the Navy to make choices. In August 1959 Martin was told to halt operations and the program was about to be canceled. Seaplanes were a small community in Naval Aviation, and the P6M was significantly over budget and behind schedule and competing with aircraft carriers for funding. The Navy also had a potentially superior system for the nuclear strike role, the Ballistic Missile Submarine. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: "01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference." This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp8G60dlW84 Mirrored from Periscope Film (https://www.youtube.com/@PeriscopeFilm) Sat, 13 Jun 2026 15:14:21 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/41a6fee9-7f57-42d0-a5fc-5db4f1af2e31.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/20b8e643-c0b3-4134-8000-1ffc1f7b9669 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.