# P6M SEAMASTER AMPHIBIOUS STRATEGIC BOMBER FLIGHT TEST FOOTAGE REEL 1 82324

This silent footage dates to the time of the Martin P6M Seamaster flight test program, with the prototype YP6M featured. At 5:17 you will see this incredible amphibian take off. After a brief flight it lands at 8:30 . It's unclear but it's possible this may have been the aircraft's maiden flight. At 11:00 the aircraft is brought on shore on a dolly. You can see how it would be mated with this device at 13:40 . The Martin P6M SeaMaster, built by the Glenn L. Martin Company, was a 1950s strategic bomber flying boat for the United States Navy that almost entered service; production aircraft were built and Navy crews were undergoing operational conversion, with a service entry about six months off, when the program was cancelled on 21 August 1959. Envisioned as a way to give the Navy a strategic nuclear force, the SeaMaster was eclipsed by the Polaris submarine-launched ballistic missile. Due to the political situation at the Pentagon, the Navy promoted the P6M primarily as a high speed minelayer. The first pre-production YP6M-1 was completed about a year later, with testing resuming in January 1958. Five more were built in 1958 when the Navy announced that Harvey Point Defense Testing Facility in Hertford, North Carolina, would serve as the testing grounds for the fleet of Martin P6M SeaMasters. These aircraft were fitted with test versions of the full combat equipment suite and were used for bombing, mine laying and reconnaissance evaluations. The J71 engines were unreliable…

- Kind: Film
- Genres: Industrial and advertising
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/82324YP6MFootageR1MosVwr)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/82324YP6MFootageR1MosVwr?play=1)