The Coast Guard acquired 27 Martin PBM-3 during the first half of 1943. In late 1944, the service acquired the first group of 41 PBM-5 models and the additional PBM-5s were delivered in the last half of 1945. The last of the PBM-3s were retired from service July 1, 1946. By May of 1947 there were only 24 PBM-5s still in service. The last ten were still in service in 1955 although all were gone from the inventory by 1956. These flying boats became the backbone of the long-range aerial search and rescue efforts of the Coast Guard in the early post-war years.
