"Hawaii Mars" the last Martin Mars bomber going to B.C. Aviation Museum

[Brian Gough]

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hawaii Mars" the last Martin Mars Bomber going to B.C. Aviation Museum

story links:

Times Colonist: https://www.timescolonist.com/local-...ontent=rundown

excerpt: "Only seven Martin Mars were made by the California-based Glenn L. Martin Company, all for the U.S. Navy as ocean patrol and long-range transports during the Second World War. Most were used for naval cargo in the Pacific.

The Hawaii Martin Mars was also enlisted as the largest air ambulance during the Korean War until it was converted in 1958.

The last four planes, sold as scrap, were bought by a B.C. forestry consortium and later converted to water bombers. One Mars crashed while firefighting near Nanoose Bay in 1961, with the loss of four crew. Another was critically damaged in a storm.

The remaining two Martin Mars bombers were acquired by the Coulson Group in 2007 from Timberwest and its subsidiary, Forest Industrial Flying Tankers."


CBC https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...seum-1.7158154

excerpt: "When wildfires burn in B.C., there's always the question: where is the Martin Mars water bomber?

It's an iconic piece of machinery, brought into service in the late 1950s to fight wildfires.

It was last used in 2015 to help fight fires in B.C., California, Mexico and Alberta.

Now, the province says it will soon become the centrepiece of a new wildfire exhibit at the British Columbia Aviation Museum in North Saanich, B.C., although there's no firm date on when the aircraft will be ready for viewing.

The Martin Mars will be flown from the Coulson Aviation Tanker Base in Port Alberni to Victoria International Airport by the end of the year. Because it can only land and take off in water, it will leave from Sproat Lake, and land in Saanich Inlet."


YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEeNmSOEgQY


Brian

[Hanno Spoelstra]

That’s really great news!

[Colin Macgregor Stevens]

The Martin "Hawaii Mars" going to the BC Aviation Museum, at what is now the airport for Victoria BC, located near Sidney BC, and was the former RCAF Station Pat Bay. In speaking with their Curator last year, she stated that it would have to be brought across the airfield and there are some obstacles that create complications. This museum is restoring a Lancaster bomber "FM104" by the way. https://bcam.net/

The second one, "Philippine Mars", is painted in USN blue and in US markings is going to the Pima Air Museum. I am not sure how they can manage that given their location! https://www.cheknews.ca/coulson-avia...ver%20produced.

I have seen both of them, but they were both up on shore at the time.

[REL]

Originally Posted by Hanno Spoelstra

That’s really great news!

Unless you like seeing forest fires put out quickly and completely.

[Brian Gough]

Yesterday the Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber made its final flight.

Link to story and pictures in the Victoria Times Colonist.

https://www.timescolonist.com/local-...escort-9335374

Excerpt from story:

"Tens of thousands gathered Sunday to watch the water bomber — long a symbol of firefighting in B.C. — make its final flight from Sproat Lake to Patricia Bay across Vancouver Island. The plane will be hauled out of the water and transported to the B.C. Aviation Museum in North Saanich, where it will become a permanent exhibit.

Wayne Coulson, CEO of Coulson Aviation, said hundreds of boats and thousands of spectators were at Sproat Lake to send off the plane when the Coulson family boarded the Hawaii Martin Mars for a loop around the lake prior to its departure.

Sunday’s flight itinerary included fly-bys across Port Alberni, Comox, Campbell River, Powell River Nanaimo, the Gulf Islands and downtown Victoria.

When the plane reached Crofton, the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, fresh from an airshow in Abbotsford, began accompanying it as Hawaii Martin Mars neared its last descent.

Thousands lined the shoreline and Patricia Bay Park for the occasion.

Traffic on area roads came to a standstill when the Martin Mars made its first flyover of the Saanich Peninsula at 6:15 p.m. on its way to downtown Victoria, accompanied by the Snowbirds.

The cheers that accompanied the water bomber when it returned about 25 minutes later were only barely drowned out by the thundering roar of the plane coming over the bay to land.

People stood on top of cars and trucks to get a better view.

A final cheer arose from the shoreline when the propellers of the massive plane shut off for the last time at 6:50 p.m. after mooring at the Institute of Ocean Sciences. "

[Bruce MacMillan]

I remember as a teenager watching a Martin Mars bomber fighting a lumbermill on fire in New Westmisnter in 1966.