Martin Mars tar en runde før den blir museumsobjekt ved Pima Air- And Space ved The Boneyard nærTucson - AVweb

 

Lake Roosevelt er en stor sjø 130km nordøst for Phoenix. 

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Martin Mars To Visit San Francisco, San Diego On Final Flight

Philippine Mars is undergoing taxi tests in British Columbia before flying to Arizona.

Russ Niles

Updated Nov 12, 2024 5:50 AM EST

 

Sandi Chernomaz/CHEK News

Aviation buffs in San Francisco and San Diego will get to see the rarest of the rare possibly next week as the last flying example of the world's largest flying boat makes its last flight. The Philippine Mars, a Martin JRM Mars, is currently undergoing taxi tests in Port Alberni, British Columbia, in preparation for a flight to Lake Roosevelt in Arizona. From there, it will be partially dismantled to be trucked to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson.

Philippine Mars is the sister ship to Hawaii Mars, which flew demonstration firefighting water drops at AirVenture in 2016. The four-engine behemoth was one of nine built between 1942 and 1947 for the Navy. The flying boats were deployed at California Navy bases to fly cargo and troops to Hawaii. In 1956, the four remaining Mars were sold to a consortium of British Columbia forest companies that converted them for firefighting. They are capable of scooping up 7,200 gallons of water to drop on fires. The current owner Coulson Air Tankers bought them in 2008 and they were retired from firefighting in 2015.

Hawaii Mars was flown to a museum in Victoria, B.C., last August. After it was in place, the 16-foot props, which had recently been expensively overhauled, were removed and installed on Philippine Mars for its trip south. The tentative date for the plane to leave Sproat Lake for San Francisco is Nov. 18, but that's dependent on weather and paperwork for the export permit.