From: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Subject: Skunk Works Digest V4 #47 Reply-To: skunk-works-digest@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Errors-To: skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu Precedence: bulk Skunk Works Digest Monday, 25 October 1993 Volume 04 : Number 047 In this issue: Martin Mercators Edwards AFB Open House Edwards after-action report. See the end of the digest for information on subscribing to the skunk-works or skunk-works-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: urf@ki.icl.se (Urban Fredriksson) Date: Sun, 24 Oct 93 10:02:58 MET Subject: Martin Mercators The Martin Mercator was concieved as a long-range mine-laying patrol aircraft for the invasion of Japan. It was of very conventional appearance, cantilever shoulder-wing monoplane. However, it was one of the few aircraft designed from the beginning to have both reciprocing and jet engines. P&W R4360-20 Wasp Majors of 2424 kW and Allison J-33-A-23 turbojets of 20.6 kN were housed in together in the same nacelles. Not much is know about the development of it, but one paper from Martin in 1944 suggests both an armed and a faster unarmed version. Two XP4M-1 prototypes were built in 1946, one of each version, the US Navy wanted the armed version. The production P4M-1s had two 20 mm guns in the nose, two in the dorsal turret and two in the tail. The first of 19 was delivered to VP-21 (Patrol Squadron 21) in 1950, where it was used for mine-laying duties. For the patrol mission they had the normal blue paint and markings. In 1950, the Navy started to modify them for the electronic reconnaissance role as P4M-1Qs, the first one was finished in 1951. It was useful for this as it had a range of 4570 km, a large bomb bay where it could carry up to 5400 kg and room for a 14-man crew (pilot, co-pilot, navigator/relief pilot, electronics officer, six intercept operators, captain/relief gunner, three gunners). Design gross weight was 37400 kg (82500 lb), but as this was too little with all equipment installed, some Tipp-Ex and ink changed it to 92500 lb in all manuals. Speed was 333 km/h (180 kt) on radials, 630 km/h (340 kt) with the turbojets. For this mission, they were painted a matt blue-black and had no other markings than national insignias and bogus bureau numbers which were changed monthly. They first four became operational at Sangley Point in the Philippines as the Special Products Division of the Air Operations Department. In 1953 they became known as Detachent A of VW-1 (Airborne Early Warning Squadron One), and in 1954 of VW-3. Says pilot Don Angier: "The connection with VW-3 was fiction. In fact, during a visit the VW-3 skipper dragged us aside and wanted to know what we were doing. We wouldn't tell him." In 1955 they became VQ-1 (Electronics Countermeasures Squadron One), consisted of six aircraft and relocated to Iwakuni in Japan. In 1960, the more accurate description Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron was applied to VQ-1. They collected information from Vietnam, China, North Korea and USSR, with 14-hour patrols not unusual. During the times of month with bright moonlight, they didn't fly any missions. On Aug 22:nd, 1956, one of them was shot down by Chinese fighters east of Wnechow. Four bodies were found, 12 listed as missing. As a result of this, they were from that on painted in standard markings. On June 16:th 1959 another was fired upon by North Korean MiG-17s and a gunner wounded. At Port Lyautey, Marocco, a second unit was formed, first known as NAF Patrol Unit, later on Det. A of VW-2 and VQ-2. One of these _may_ have been fired upon in 1951 or 52, and one crewman killed. Or maybe what is referred to is when one crashed in the Mediterranean after engine failure where all 18 crew members but a crewmember from one of the rescue planes was killed. Three other Mercators were lost to other causes and one was struck off as a result of a non-combat related incident. [Air International Oct 1993] - -- Urban Fredriksson urf@icl.se "It's like the '64 Air Force mission to the moon -- you want to be on the cutting edge, you gotta live with the secrecy." "What Air Force mission to the moon?" "See?" -'In the Hole w/ the Boys w/ the Toys' G.Landis IAFSM Oct 93 ------------------------------ From: Mary Shafer Date: Sun, 24 Oct 1993 20:15:57 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Edwards AFB Open House Well, once again the Edwards AFB Open House has come and gone. I got sore feet, a sunburned nose, and a new F-4 tee-shirt. It was an unqualified success, to my way of thinking. The Thunderbirds cancelled but AFFTC put together a very nice aerial show, including a number of low passes by the B-2, both before the official beginning of the show and at the end. There was a very nice little display by three F-117s and a snappy demonstration of aerial refuelling with both the B-1B and the F-15 (E, I think, but I was looking into the sun and am not certain). The F-15 and F-16 airshow routines were very good; I'd been watching the practices for the last two weeks, but they looked even better from the ramp. I enjoyed watching the poor slow little A-37 try to stay with the F-15, F-16, and T-38 when they all came across in a diamond. Lots and lots of planes on static display, big ones, little ones, fast ones slow ones, new ones, and old ones. NASA had the SR-71, an F-18B, the Pathfinder, the X-31, and the AFTI/F-16 on static display. I spent almost all of the airshow "guarding" the SR-71--if you were there, I was the woman in the blue NASA cap and the black F-4 tee-shirt.) Among the planes on static display were the C-5, the C-17, the B-52 (G or H), KC-135, C-141, F-117, B-2, F-15, F-16, NC-131, the Aero Club's T-34C, and a lot more that I can't begin to remember. I think there was a U-2, but I couldn't get all the way back into that hangar because of the crowd. There's at least one member of the viewing public who is absolutely positive that NASA Dryden had a short-winged U-2 on display, by the way, even though I assured him that it was really the F-18B. It's quite astounding how wrong people can be, and not just about short-winged U-2s. Mary Shafer DoD #0362 KotFR shafer@ursa-major.spdcc.com ------------------------------ From: Rick Pavek Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1993 01:10:23 -0700 Subject: Edwards after-action report. Thanks Mary. It's always nice to hear about the good ones... All I get to report is my trip to Puerto Vallarta... at the airport there were a handful of civil aircraft and five helos... Four were Mexican customs, one may have been Army, all Hueys, probably UH-1N but I couldn't get a good view from the taxi (And I thought I drove crazy...) A few blocks down the road to the hotel was the military garrision... The vehicles were sufficient for a squad or two, perhaps a light platoon. Four busses, six Gamma Goats (old US articulated truck), and a jeep. Funny thing though, about the garrison. They had a chain link fence with the barbed wire on top. But it was angled inside towards the compound. Guess they have trouble hanging onto a few good men... In short, hardly any military presence at PV at all. Rick SR-75/XR-7 _|_*O*_|_ | Rick Pavek \ __|__ / | HA!! kuryakin@halcyon.com \_______/_(O)_\_______/ | Ruby - \___/---\___/ | Galactic Gumshoe ------------------------------ End of Skunk Works Digest V4 #47 ******************************** To subscribe to skunk-works-digest, send the command: subscribe skunk-works-digest in the body of a message to "listserv@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu". If you want to subscribe something other than the account the mail is coming from, such as a local redistribution list, then append that address to the "subscribe" command; for example, to subscribe "local-skunk-works": subscribe skunk-works-digest local-skunk-works@your.domain.net To unsubscribe, send mail to the same address, with the command: unsubscribe skunk-works-digest in the body. Administrative requests, problems, and other non-list mail can be sent to either "skunk-works-digest-owner@harbor.ecn.purdue.edu" or, if you don't like to type a lot, "prm@ecn.purdue.edu". 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