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. One was destroyed in a crash and another lost in a storm. The current owner Coulson Air Tankers bought the remaining two 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. Details are pending on the San Francisco and San Diego visits but it’s expected to spend at least a full day in San Francisco and up to three days in San Diego. They will be accessible to the public in both cities.
