Quiet week and ending with the final flight of the Mars Hawaii Water Bomber. August 8 - 11th

This week is much quieter with all our company going home. The daytime temperature spiked starting Wednesday through the weekend. We definitely spent more time down on the dock as it's too hot outside on the deck.

Our flowers in the front garden are looking fabulous.

Saturday our neighbour parked his boat at our dock, while he and a bunch of friends pulled a dock section to the beach to replace the floatation under it. It's quite a synchronized system with using his quads as the "puller". They finished by 3 pm and Mike's boat back at his dock. Luckily it's a much cooler day with a breeze for all the "muscle work".

Sunday is the last flight of Coulson's Hawaii Mars from Port Alberni to Victoria where it will go to the museum. We invited ourselves to Ray's cousin Brian's in Ladysmith to view the flight. The huge water bomber has been a staple in fire protection here in BC for many years. 

In December 1941, two days before Pearl Harbor, the Glenn L. Martin Company had rolled out a new flying boat, the largest of its kind in the world.

The Martin Mars, a huge propeller powered seaplane the size of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet was decades ahead of its time. Remarkably preserved and still flying more than half a century after they were built in Middle River, Maryland between 1941 and 1945.

Between 1945 and 1956 the Mars fleet traversed the wide Pacific. Like ships, each had been named: Philippines, Hawaii, Marianas, Caroline, and Marshall Mars. The Navy Mars carried cargoes of blood plasma and spare parts to Pacific bases, and flew back with litters of wounded soldiers from Korea.

In April 1946, Hawaii Mars carried a record 35,000 pounds of cargo to Honolulu and on the return flight carried a record 100 litter patient and 20 medical personnel to Alameda. On 4 March 1949, the Caroline Mars set a world record by carrying 269 people from San Diego to Alameda, California. On May 19, 1949, Marshall Mars broke that record by carrying 301 seamen and 7 crewmen from Alameda to San Diego.

The story of the mighty Mars, the largest operational seaplane manufactured in the United States goes back to the glamorous days of the 1930’s Pan American Airlines' "China Clippers", a seaplane built by the Glenn L. Martin Company carrying rich and famous passengers to the Orient. After building the first three China Clippers, Glenn L. Martin looked to bigger and better long-range flying boats. In 1938, the U.S. Navy ordered a prototype seaplane as a patrol bomber, naming it Mars. The Mars was originally designed as an "aerial battleship" carrying ten tons of bombs and bristling with four powered machine-gun turrets. With a wingspan of 200 feet and a two-story hull 120 feet long, the Mars seemed more like a ship than an airplane. Like a ship, it was built from the keel up and launched backwards into the water after being christened by the obligatory bottle of champagne. The spacious interior included a galley, showers, and sleeping rooms for a crew of 13. The aircraft carried 301 passengers plus crew on one recording breaking flight.

The Mars began flight trials in 1941, just before Pearl Harbor. Early combat experience proved to the Navy that the lumbering aerial battleship with a slow cruising speed of only 140-185 miles per hour, would be fatally vulnerable to aircraft fighters. But the war furnished another urgent mission for long-range aircraft - flying cargo across the submarine-infested Atlantic. As losses of merchant ships mounted, transatlantic airfreight looked like an attractive alternative to the vulnerable Liberty Ships. The original Mars, shorn of her warlike turrets and bomb-bays, was then converted into a transport. It ferried tons of rare ores from Africa and priority cargo to Hawaii.

Between 1945 and 1956 the Mars fleet traversed the wide Pacific. Like ships, each had been named: Philippines, Hawaii, Marianas, Caroline, and Marshall Mars. The Navy Mars carried cargoes of blood plasma and spare parts to Pacific bases, and flew back with litters of wounded soldiers from Korea.

In April 1946, Hawaii Mars carried a record 35,000 pounds of cargo to Honolulu and on the return flight carried a record 100 litter patient and 20 medical personnel to Alameda. On 4 March 1949, the Caroline Mars set a world record by carrying 269 people from San Diego to Alameda, California. On May 19, 1949, Marshall Mars broke that record by carrying 301 seamen and 7 crewmen from Alameda to San Diego.

In 1956, newer and faster land-planes made the Mars obsolete. The Navy sold the four remaining planes to Forest Industries Flying Tankers, Limited, a Canadian company. Based at Sproat Lake in British Columbia, these Mars were converted from long-range cargo planes into short-range water bombers. Special scoops were mounted, enabling the planes to take on 7200 gallons of water during a 20-second water run - then rain it down on a forest fire nearby.

Hawaii Mars and Philippine Mars continued to safely serve the industry for the next 45 years when the remaining owner, Forest Industries, decided to relinquish its tanker operations to the Coulson Group in 2007, which continues to locate them on Sproat Lake near Port Alberni, BC. Hawaii Mars is the remaining serviceable tanker but because of operational costs and minimal contracts the Mars saga is coming to a close.

Ray managed to get a good shot from Brian's sundeck. Years ago when we lived in Port Alberni this plane would give a water display on the Alberni Inlet at the company picnic.

Ray's video:

Here is a video of its final flight in Victoria with the Canadian Snowbirds.

We had a lovely visit on Brian's deck and then a delicious dinner of ribs, corn and salads. Did I mention dessert is a choice of five different flavours of homemade ice cream? Ray's in ice cream heaven!

Brian, Sandy and Sandy's mom, Irma

They have a fabulous view.

This cactus is as old as Brian (over 70 years old) and was his late uncles. lol

We were back home by 8:30 pm after a great afternoon. Sure gets dark much earlier now.