BC provides $250,000 to help preserve Martin Mars water bomber

Article content

The final flight of the Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber will get a $250,000 boost from the provincial government as the firefighting plane travels from Sproat Lake to the BC Aviation Museum in North Saanich.

Officials on Thursday confirmed a plan that would have the massive plane operational by the end of the year so it can be moved to the museum.

Article content

Article content

The provincial government’s one-time funding for the museum will help establish the plane as the centerpiece of its new BC wildfire aviation exhibit.

Lana Popham, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport, called the plane a proud symbol of British Columbian ingenuity and innovation, representing cutting-edge aviation firefighting technology of its time.

“We recognize the value that the Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber has to many people and have heard their desire to house it at the British Columbia Aviation Museum, where it can be displayed and protected as an important piece of our province’s history,” he said. at a news conference at Coulson Aviation’s air tanker base in Sproat Lake.

The water bomber, with a wingspan of 60 meters, last fought fires in 2015 and was operational on the island for more than half a century, being capable of dropping 25,000 liters of water on the fires in a single pass.

Its final flight is expected before the end of 2024 and will be a multi-phase process that includes passing federal inspections, crew training and test flights.

The Hawaii Martin Mars can only land and take off on water, so its last flight will be from Sproat Lake to Saanich Inlet, near Victoria International Airport.

Article content

Article content

The plane will be taken to a ramp at Canadian Coast Guard Base Patricia Bay, a former seaplane port, mounted on a trailer in a rotating cradle and transported across the runways of Victoria International Airport.

It is expected that the flight plan will be widely publicized so that people along the route can see the plane fly one last time.

The museum is raising funds to build a new hangar to house the Martin Mars Hawaii and other BC firefighting aircraft on land donated by the Victoria Airport Authority. The new exhibit will be interactive and invite visitors to explore the aircraft’s features up close.

The Hawaii is one of only two remaining Martin Mars water bombers. The other, Philippine Mars, was retired in 2012 and is not considered airworthy. He remains at Coulson Air Base.

Coulson Aviation will recruit five former certified maintenance engineers and four flight crew to complete around 10,000 hours of aircraft preparation and flight retraining over the next six months to prepare the red and white Hawaii Martin Mars for its final flight.

Wayne Coulson, chief executive of the Coulson group of companies, did not attend the press conference but said in a statement that he was delighted to partner with the museum in the “important effort” to preserve it.

Article content

“The Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber is an amazing aircraft,” Coulson said. “After this flight, you’ll probably never see one fly again.”

Steve Nichol, president of the British Columbia Aviation Museum, said the project to acquire the water bomber began more than two years ago.

“I am delighted at the prospect of not only preserving this vintage aircraft, but also being able to showcase its fascinating history as a history of British Columbia aviation,” Nichol said.

The museum attracts about 20,000 visitors a year and having the water bomber is an opportunity to raise the profile of British Columbia’s aviation history.

Richard Mosdell, project leader to get the bomber for the museum, said he is overwhelmed by the support.

“There are so many people on the island with Mars DNA. … They’ve worked on the airplanes, they’ve flown them, they’ve seen them and they just love them,” Mosdell said. “They come up to me and shake my hand, thanking me for not allowing this plane to leave the island.”

California-based Glenn L. Martin Company only built seven Martin Mars, all for the US Navy as ocean patrol and long-range transports during World War II. Most were used for naval cargo in the Pacific.

Article content

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 aircraft, sold for scrap, were purchased by a British Columbia forestry consortium and later converted into water bombers. A Mars crashed while fighting fires near Nanoose Bay in 1961, with the loss of four crew. Another was severely damaged by a storm.

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

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know – add VancouverSun.com and LaProvincia.com to your favorites and subscribe to our newsletters here.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber: for just $14 a month, you can get unlimited access to The Vancouver Sun, The Province, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Vancouver Sun | The province.

Article content