P5M

The regal P5M (or Martin Marlin) was the last of the very special pure seaplanes (flying boats, normally with no landing gear) which were manufactured by the Glenn Martin Co. in Baltimore, MD for the U.S. Navy. (The company is now a part of the huge Lockheed Martin Co., one of the largest defense contractors.) This aircraft was used in anti-submarine search and destroy missions and in long range maritime patrol operations. Since the plane left service in the 60's, its missions have been undertaken by the Lockheed P3 Orion, a land-based patrol bomber, and the P3 will itself be replaced in 2010 by a new version of the Boeing 737, called the P8 by the Navy. The last known surviving example of this once so proud military airplane is based at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, FL. The Museum is, by the way,one of the best aviation museums in the country--on a par virtually with our two great Smithsonian Aerospace museums in D.C. and in Dulles, VA and with the USAF Museum in Dayton, OH.