This is a model of the wreck of the airplane with Bureau Number 59172, one of only two known surviving Martin PBM Mariners. The PBM mariner is a flying boat, a popular design for patrol aircraft during World War Two. Flying boats use their hull for flotation, and pontoons to avoid flipping over. This particular plane was being towed into storage on May 6, 1949 when it struck an unseen object underwater. One of its pontoons was damaged, which caused the plane to flip over and sunk.
As a result of the plane’s rarity, there have been two attempts to recover the plane; however, both projects have been unsuccessful. The most recent attempt damaged the wreck, and left it without a tail. While unfortunate, the damage gives us an opportunity to examine the interior of the wreck in a way that would be otherwise impossible.
This wreck lays in approximately 70 feet of water near the Boeing plant in Renton, Washington. Most of the wreck is hidden under a fine silt that is omnipresent in Lake Washington.
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