Martin Mariner with RAF Costal Command

[hanshauprich]

What was the reason for the returning of the lend-lease Mariners after less then six weeks of service with Costal Command? As more then 1200 was built it wasn't an bad Float plane, or?

[Leendert]

Hans,

On following website http://www.faqs.org/docs/air/avmars.html you'll find the (or a) reason why Mariners never saw operational service with Coastal Command

It boils down to the fact that the RAF thought that the controls were too heavy and tiring for long patrol flights.

Regards,

Leendert

[Graham Boak]

Air Arsenal North America, Phil Butler with Dan Hagedorn, states that the Mariner was found to have a shorter range and lower load-carrying capability than the Sunderland. Several engineering features were disliked, especially the lack of self-sealing tanks, some of them in the fuselage, which were thought to present too high a fire risk.

I remember that in one account of the missing Avengers in the "Bermuda Triangle" it was stated that a Mariner that went looking for them also failed to return, but that this type had a bad reputation in the USN for catching fire. Memory says that the nickname "Flying Ronson" was used, but I can't confirm that.

[B.F.M. Droog]

Strange - I remember also that Mariners were called 'Flying Ronsons' - I think I heard it in a recent Bermuda Triangle documentary on Discovery or National Geographic. Yet Google mentions that nickname only in connection with a German plane, the He 177 (and something else, not air forces related).

[Graham Boak]

The application of the trademark name to the He 177 has to be propaganda, probably post-war journalism, as the Ronson cigarette lighter was British/American. I've seen it referred to as the "Luftwaffe's firelighter" but don't know whether that was contemporary. The non-aviation reference is to the Sherman tank, nicknamed the Ronson by the British and the "Tommy cooker" to the Germans. The name comes from the "lights first time" slogan used by the company. (Possibly "lights first strike"? - sorry, a bit before my time.)

[Peter Clare]

Success for the Martin Mariner.

On 30 June 1942 a Martin Mariner of VP-74 Squadron (Lt. R E. Schreder)based on Bermuda supprised U 158 (Rostin) on the surface west of Bermuda. Some of the U-boats crew were seen to be sunbathing on deck. The aircraft attacked with four depth-charges, one which actually hit the submarine and exploded as it dived. U 158 was lost along with its 53 crew.