P4M-1 Mercator
The Bureau of Aeronautics issued a contract for the P4M-1 to Martin Company on 6 July 1944. Martin delivered 21 aircraft to the U.S. Navy. On 28 June 1950 VP-21 became the first squadron to recieve the P4M-1 in its inventory on 31 May 1960.
The P4M was a land based naval patrol aircraft. Like other Martin aircraft it was powered by 2x Pratt and Whitney R-4360 radial piston engines. The "Mercator" also had two jet engines, (the Allison J-33) mounted beneath the radial engines in the same nacelles. The idea was that this would enable Martin to combine the size and armament of four-engine planes with the economy and range of a two-engine plane. The combination, however, of two different types of powerplants was troublesome. This problem came to a head in August 1947 when one of the prototype XP4M-1's main fuel lines burst on a test flight, killing a Martin flight test engineer and injuring two others. In 1947 the US Navy chose the cheaper and more reliable Lockheed P2 "Neptune" powered by two piston engines as its regular patrol plane.
In the beginning of 1951, the P4M-1"Mercator" was specifically modified for electronic reconnaissance as the P4M-1Q "Mercator". Most were delivered to Patrol Squadron 21, stationed at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland and later Port Lyautey in Morocco.
The P4M, working with the Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron (VQ-1), was in service until 1960 and was employed on missions along the Chinese border and the far eastern Russian coast. One was shot down near Shanghai in 1956. The "Mercator also operated over the Atlantic with VQ-2.
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