were planes used in the pacific war navy or army planes?

Early war PBM-3 shows off its potent defensive armament with twin fifty cals in nose, tail and dorsal turrets.Įntering service with VP-55 in September 1940 the Mariner, whilst generally successful, was considered somewhat underpowered and control in the event of an engine failure was marginal at best. One of several large aircraft to be tested by a piloted scale model (powered by two Chevrolet car engines, it was christened the ‘Tadpole Clipper’ and survives in the collection of the National Air and Space Museum), the first PBM flew with a flat tail but aerodynamic concerns led to the tail being given the same dihedral as the inner wing and resulted in the aircraft’s distinctive inward canted tailfins. Despite being the second most numerous flying boat ever built (with 1366 produced, just one more example was built than the next most numerous – the Beriev MBR-2), it never fully escaped from the PBY’s slow-moving shadow but the PBM deserves more recognition for it was an excellent flying boat that enjoyed lengthy service from before America’s entry into the war until the 1950s. Note the huge radar housing above the cockpit.īetter than the Catalina in every regard (except, initially at least, reliability) the Mariner is nonetheless fairly obscure today. The PBM-3S was a dedicated anti-submarine variant that ditched gun turrets and armour for increased range. Martin PBM Mariner Mariner PBM-3S viewed through the distinctive tail of a sister aircraft. So let’s take a look at the ones that did make it – hopefully one or two of them are slightly surprising and at least four made it into Steven Spielberg films, here are the top ten WWII USN aircraft:ġ0. It is virtually impossible to make any left-field choices for USN aircraft during the war because, frankly, there weren’t any.

Most frustrating of all was the spectacular F7F Tigercat, it became operational the day before Japan surrendered so its contribution to the war effort was, understandably, limited. Inconveniently, for lists such as these, the war ended just as some very impressive types were happening along: the excellent F8F Bearcat and AD-1 Skyraider were both flying by VJ day but neither had entered service, likewise the FD-1 Phantom, the first jet designed from scratch for carrier use. It is striking both how few different types the US Navy operated during World War II, particularly from carriers, and how nearly all of them were either totally brilliant or just awful. Obviously it’s in there but is it number one?

Were planes used in the pacific war navy or army planes?