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SPECIFICATIONS: XP4M-1 / P4M-1 / P4M-1Q
Description: Long range Navy patrol/reconnaissance plane
Engine: XP4M-1: two 2,975 hp Pratt & Whitney R-4360-4 Wasp
Majors and two supplemental 3,825 lb thrust Allison J-33-
A-17 axial flow turbojet engines / P4M-1: two 3,250 hp
Pratt & Whitney R-4360-20A’s and two 4,600 lb thrust
Allison J-33-A-23 engines
Dimensions: Span: 114 ft 0 in; length: 85 ft 2.88 in; height: 26 ft 1 in;
wing area: 1,311 sq ft
Weights: 82,500 lb loaded / P4M-1Q: 88,378 lb loaded
Crew: P4M-1Q: 14 (pilot, copliot, navigator, electronics officer,
6 intercept operators, captain/relief gunner, and 3
gunners)
Armament: XP4M-1: two 0.50-in guns mounted in an Emerson
X250SE-2 nose turret, two 0.50-in guns in Martin 250CE-
24 deck turret, two aft firing 20mm cannon in Martin X-
220CH-2 tail turret / P4M-1: four 20mm cannon (2 in nose
and 2 in tail turrets), two 0.50-in guns in upper turret;
12,000 lb maximum bomb bay ordnance (including
various bombs, mines, and aerial torpedoes)
Performance: Maximum speed: 410 mph; service ceiling: 16,900 ft;
range: 2,840 miles / P4M-1Q: range: 2,000 miles
An unsuccessful contender for the maritime patrol requirement won by the Lockheed Neptune, the Martin P4M-1 Mercator was first used by VP-21 for high-speed minelaying duties. In 1951 the Patrol Unit of Naval Air Facility, Port Lautey, Morroco (VQ-2) and the Special Projects Division of Naval Air Station Sangley Point, Philippines (VQ-1), began flying the P4M-1Q electronic reconnaissance version. In June 1955 VQ-1 was based at Iwakuni, Japan taking over US Navy SIGINT duties from the PB4Y Privateer. Twenty one Mercators were eventually built and all were powered by two P&W Wasp Major radial engines and unusually two Allison turbojets buried in the rear of the radial engine nacelles.
Between 1950 to 1960 Mercator’s were employed on ‘ferret’ ELINT missions along Chinese borders and far eastern Russian coasts with Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1). The only other units to operate Mercator’s was VQ-2 who operated over the Mediterranean and Atlantic. The P4M-1Q Mercator’s generally operated with aircraft codes from regular US Navy Neptune patrol squadrons to hide their true identity. Two XP4M-1s were built but never saw active service. Of the other 19, one was shot down in 1956, another was damaged beyond economic repair in 1959 and four were lost to other crashes. A number of other aircraft narrowly survived attacks by Chinese MiG’s
The Mercator’s were gradually replaced by the EA-3 Skywarrior, which as it operated from aircraft carriers, allowed much greater flexibility. The remaining P4M-1Q Mercator’s were eventually withdrawn from service in May 1960 and only a few survived in museums.
P4M-1Q Mercator Anniversary 16 Jun 2001
Today is the anniversary of the North Korean MiG-17 attack on a P4M-1Q Mercator on June 16, 1959. The following is a quote from an article about the Mercator written for Air International magazine by me and retired Navy Lt. Comdr. Rick Burgess several years ago. This was the second P4M incident, following the shootdown of a P4M near Shanghai in 1956. Begin quote Another P4M-1Q belonging to VQ-1 (bureau no. 122209) barely survived an encounter with hostile aircraft on 16 June 1959 when it was shot up by North Korean MiG-17 interceptors. The previous day the Mercator flew a routine track over the Sea of Japan from Iwakuni to Misawa, Japan identical in reverse to the track it was to fly on the date of the incident.
According to the official report, the Mercator departed Misawa at 8:08 a.m. local time, proceeding on “a northwesterly course at altitudes between 6,000ft [1,858m] and 7,500ft [2,322m] to a point over the Sea of Japan approximately one hundred miles [161km] off the Coast of Siberia.” The Mercator flew its planned track in “westerly and southerly directions, roughly parallel to the coast, to the point at which the attack occurred.” For 25 minutes immediately prior to the attack, “the P4M had been on a heading which would have taken it to a point on the Korean coast south of the United Nations Truce Line. Coincident with the beginning of the attack, the P4M was 78mi [126km] east of Wonsan, North Korea, and commencing a left turn to a southeasterly course away from land.”
At 12:12 p.m. local time (0815Z), two “silver-colored MiG type fighter aircraft, bearing red star markings on the fuselage abaft the cockpit, appeared high astern of the P4M, already in their attacking runs. One MiG passed overhead without firing but the other opened fire on his initial pass, hitting the P4M on the port side. Employing standard fighter tactics, the MiGs made at least five passes, three of which were firing runs. On the second firing run, the P4M tail gunner [Petty Officer Second Class Eugene Corder] was ready but the MiG fired first, seriously wounding him and knocking his turret out of action.”
Radioman James A. Dendy, who was in the squadron but not aboard, remembers that Corder never fired a round. According to Dendy, Corder was an electrician, not a gunner, who was sitting in the aft position while the tail gunner, named Nelson, was elsewhere in the aircraft. The failure to return fire caused President Eisenhower to question publicly “why his boys were not armed,” claims Dendy. Getting shot at was also part of the job, Dendy opines: “If these people will tell you the truth, they’ve seen the street lights in Vladivostok, Russia more than once.” (Radioman Joe Price remembers, “We used to go up north when the Russian fleet came out of Vladivostok in the spring.”) Upon sighting the MiGs, the Mercator pilot, Lt. Comdr. Donald Mayer, sent out a distress call, gave orders to open fire, and dived the aircraft to fifty feet, or fifteen meters, above the water. The MiGs followed and “pressed home their attacks for approximately five minutes. After breaking off the last attack, the MiGs pulled straight up to a high altitude and disappeared to the north.” Four USAF fighters based at Itazuke, Japan launched to cover the Mercator as it headed for Japan and four South Korean fighters established a patrol over the Korean coast to intercept any attempts to finish off the P4M-1Q.
“Fighting damaged controls and two dead engines at altitudes varying from fifty to two thousand feet, the pilot and co-pilot, in a masterful display of airmanship, nursed their crippled P4M-1Q to the Japanese airbase at Miho, on the where a successful landing was made.” According to Captain East’s research, the extraordinary physical strength of the co-pilot, Lt. Comdr. Vincent Anania, a former All-American football player at the Naval Academy, helped keep the crippled plane airborne. The pilot and copilot were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the rest of the crew received Air Medals, and Corder, wounded, received a Purple Heart award.
Robert F. Dorr
Oakton, Virginia
