The flying boat is an important piece of aviation history. When land-based airstrips were few a century ago, flying boats used water to take travelers to far-flung destinations quicker than cars or ships. These historic machines are still around over a century later and the largest operational flying boat is taking back to the sky for one final ride. The 79-year-old Martin JRM3 Mars ‘Hawaii Mars’ was brought back from the dead, where it’s going on one final flight before becoming a part of a museum.
Hawaii Mars is the only one left in operation of her kind, and there weren’t many of these flying boats built to start with. The Martin JRM Mars is said to be the largest operational flying boat built in America. That distinction is a bit funny, but it nixes the giant Hughes H-4 Hercules. Yet, the JRM Mars isn’t what anyone would describe as tiny. It’s a few inches longer than a Boeing 737 MAX 7 with a wingspan wider than a Boeing 747SP is long. That’s a 117-foot length and a 200-foot wingspan for you number nerds out there.
Just seven of these flying boats were built during and after World War II and most of them no longer exist. Four of them survived getting scrapped or destroyed early in their lives to become water bombers. Of those four, just two survived to fall into the hands of aerial firefighting company Coulson Group. The remaining flying boats are Philippine Mars, which hasn’t flown since 2006, and Hawaii Mars (actually Hawaii Mars II), which hasn’t flown since 2016.
Both flying boats are heading to new homes, but Hawaii Mars is going out in style. Since the flying boat essentially ran when parked, it’s being brought back to life for one last flight before it’s put on permanent display at the British Columbia Aviation Museum.
Forgotten Pieces Of History
Sadly, you might not heard of these flying boats often, if you’ve even heard of them at all. The last time these flying boats made the news was in 2022 when Coulson Group was trying to sell Hawaii Mars for $5 million. I was one of the people who wrote about it back then, too.
It’s a shame because these flying boats are an important part of aviation history.
As the Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum writes, the story of these aircraft begins with aviation pioneer Glenn Luther Martin. Martin’s exploits in aviation date back over a century. In 1912, Martin held the record for the longest flight over water in America, which was 66 miles in 80 minutes from Newport Bay, California, to Avalon on Catalina Island. A year later, he’d take a plane to 9,000 feet of altitude. Martin was also known for his successful aircraft designs, including bombers during the World War I era.
He also founded the Glenn L. Martin Company in 1912. In the mid-1930s, the Glenn L. Martin Company built Martin M-130 “China Clipper” flying boats for rich passengers riding in the flying ocean liners of Pan American World Airways. These flying boats were already among the largest fixed-wing aircraft of their day, but Glenn L. Martin had dreams for bigger, more capable flying boats.
In 1938, the United States Navy began expressing interest in a large flying boat that was going to be more or less a flying battleship. It would have a 5,000-mile range, four hydraulic machine-gun turrets, and a bomb delivery system, and it would be built like a ship including crew quarters, and galley – even showers.
The first example was prototype XPB2M-1 and the flying boat was essentially a scaled-up PBM Mariner patrol bomber. The aircraft was announced in 1941 but flight tests were delayed until 1942 after an engine fire caused a setback. Sadly, when the Navy finally got its hands on the XPB2M-1, which was named Mars, the Navy determined the flying boat was far too slow and insufficiently agile to serve in the originally intended role of a flying battleship. Fortunately, the military would find use for the Mars because it was in desperate need of transport aircraft.
The Navy originally wanted 20 examples, but the shortages of everything in World War II, plus the late timing of production, meant that the order was scaled back to just 5 units. I’ll let the National Museum of the U.S. Navy continue from here:
Developed in 1938 by the Glenn L. Martin Company as a long-range ocean patrol flying boat. The prototype, XPB2M-1, was launched on November 8, 1941. Following tests between 1942 and 1943, the Navy approved the aircraft for transportation. The aircraft had a crew of four, with accommodations for a relief crew, and was approximately 117 feet in length. Seven aircraft were produced, including the prototype, which was later scrapped in 1945 after transferring to Fleet Tactical Support Squadron 2 (VR-2) at Alameda, California. The aircraft mainly were utilized for trips back and forth to Hawaii from California. All, except for Hawaii Mars I, were upgraded to JRM-3.
The Mars aircraft in U.S. Navy service were named. Hawaii Mars I was first flown in July 1945 but later sank in August in the Chesapeake Bay and was scrapped. Philippine Mars was delivered in 1946 and flew with VR-2. Serving until 1956, she later became a forest fire fighting aircraft and is awaiting to be displayed at the National Naval Aviation Museum. Marianas Mars delivered in 1946 and assigned to VR-2 until 1956. Also converted to a forest fire fighting aircraft, she crashed on June 23, 1961, into Mount Moriarty near Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, killing her crew.
On April 5, 1950, Marshall Mars was destroyed by an engine fire and sank off Diamond Head, Oahu, Hawaii. Her crew of four survived, and her wreck was discovered in 2004. Delivered in 1946, Hawaii Mars II served with VR-2 until 1956 and later became a forest fire fighting aircraft and operated in the British Columbia area. She is the only Mars aircraft still in service. The last aircraft, Caroline Mars was delivered in 1948 and also served with VR-2. The aircraft also served as a forest fire fighting aircraft after her Navy service and was damaged beyond repair during Typhoon Freda in October 1962 at Victoria, Canada.
Hawaii Mars II, known otherwise as just Hawaii Mars, was completed in 1945 and delivered to the Fleet Tactical Support Squadron 2 at Alameda, California in 1946. There, it fulfilled its new role of carrying cargo for the military. This mission didn’t last too long and she was retired in 1956. Hawaii Mars served in the Korean War, flew medical transport between Hawaii and California, and later flew as a transport between the two states.
In 1959, Hawaii Mars was picked up by Canadian company Forest Industries Flying Tankers. She was emblazoned with the tail number CF-LYL and converted into a forest firefighting aircraft. In a weird way, Hawaii Mars became closer to what these flying boats were supposed to be. But, instead of dropping bombs, she would drop 7,200 gallons of water in a single pass. Reportedly, this is enough water to drench a four-acre fire in one pass. Later, her registration changed to C-FLYL in 1983.
As the Coulson Group writes, the Forest Industries Flying Tankers had an effective firefighting strategy. For 47 years Philippine Mars and Hawaii Mars operated as a team, dropping an incredible 14,400 gallons of water at a single time on a forest fire.
In 2006, the TimberWest Forest Corp. put Philippine Mars and Hawaii Mars up for sale with the stipulation that one of the flying boats must be donated to a local museum when its useful life is over. The Coulson Group took on both of the water bombers in 2007 and Philippine Mars stayed on the ground while Hawaii Mars continued bombing fires.
From 2009 to about 2016, pilot Dev Salkeld hit the water dump trigger 600 to 700 times while flying the Hawaii Mars. That’s a lot of water dumped on a lot of fire. Sadly, the Coulson Group decided to end operations of the historic boats in 2016 after the BC Wildfire Service ended its contract. Another factor hindering the Hawaii Mars was the fact that smaller aircraft could collect water from as many as 1,700 bodies of water, while the massive Hawaii Mars was stuck with around 113 bodies of water. The Hawaii Mars paid a visit to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2016 before going up for sale for $3 million. Its Philippine Mars sister also went up for $3 million. The Coulson Group found no takers and attempted to put both flying boats up for sale again in 2022, this time for $5 million.
Preserving History
Again, the company found no buyers, so now it’s going to do something different. Philippine Mars is going to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Arizona while Hawaii Mars will be going to the British Columbia Aviation Museum, fulfilling the original request from TimberWest. Both flying boats will go on permanent display for generations of aviation fans to see.
The donation was announced in April with the British Columbia Aviation Museum set to get their flying boat in the fall of this year. Why so long? While it has been widely reported that the Hawaii Mars is airworthy — and I was one of those who reported so in 2022 — it still hasn’t flown in 8 years. So, the Coulson Group maintenance team has been hard at work making sure the flying boat is in tip-top shape for its last flight. It also needs to be inspected and approved before it takes off again.
Apparently, this has been going ahead of schedule as over the past few weeks Coulson has been showing off videos of the Hawaii Mars on the water and performing taxi tests. Now, as Vintage Aviation News writes, on August 1 Hawaii Mars lifted off of the water of Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island for the first time in 8 years. Her 10,000 HP of four Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone 18-cylinder radial engines lifted her above the water and trees for a triumphant win for Coulson’s maintenance engineers.
Coulson planned on flying Hawaii Mars up to 6,000 feet, but a technical issue forced the pilots to shut down the aircraft’s number four engine. The party ended 15 minutes after it started, then the issue was fixed and the aircraft took off again on August 2.
There’s still more work ahead of its planned final flight next week, including an airworthiness inspection, crew training, and additional test flights.
When all is said and done, Hawaii Mars will touch down in the waters outside of the Victoria International Airport, where it’ll join the British Columbia Aviation Museum. When both of the Mars flying boats reach their respective museums, over 80 years of Mars history will come to an end. That’s a successful career for any aircraft and these two are lucky enough to spend retirement in museums rather than with scrappers. The Mars flying boats may not be as significant as other World War II aircraft, but they are still history that deserves to be remembered.
Visiting my kid and grandkid during a time when a diversion was needed, we drove into Seattle, took a ferry to Victoria BC. Wandered around awhile, had lunch, found a gallery where I bought some prints several decades ago, and then the real reason for the trip. A return trip on a float plane. Clear calm weather all day with the Olympics in one view and the Cascades in the other. I was alone in the backmost seat so I could look out either side. Awesome flight and just plane cool. As we were taxing for the dock, another float plane landed too close for comfort from the incorrect direction. A report of that improper landing was made by our pilot. Cool to see though.
“Flying Battship” is a misnomer, even the largest flying boats were more scout cruiser or destroyer than anything else. The Short Sunderland also had bunks and a galley, most large flying boats did because they had the endurance to need them and space to spare.
The 1700 bodes of water versus 113 bodies of water is,a good reason and explains why modern flying boats like the CL215 and the Shin Meiwas are modestly sized
Until May of 1956 the four remaining naval aircraft were shuttling cargo and personnel between California and Hawaii. My father-in-law, a lifelong Marine, was stationed that April in Hawaii when a family emergency justified a quick trip to the mainland. My mother-in-law and two children flew a Mars heading to Treasure Island seaplane base in San Francisco. My wife was just a little girl, but she’ll never forget that flight over the Pacific: the plane lost power to one engine, and then another.
There is seaplane service from NYC to the Hamptons – every year I dream of using it (to visit friends, I ain’t rich) but the one-way ticket is $100 more than a return ticket to Tokyo…
I’m going camping at Sproat Lake this weekend! Really looking forward to watching the Mars take off for the last time. If traffic permits on Sunday I can even make back to Victoria to watch it land. This is such a score for our local aviation museum.
Sproat Lake was about the Port Alberni highlight, would have a picnic and watch the two of these flying
We get one at Pima? Guess I get to go back and visit again. (I can ride my bike there from my house).
So these had a 51 foot greater wingspan than the Pan Am (Boeing 314) Clipper ships! Which I incorrectly thought were the largest of the flying boats. Another piece of useless information to stow away and bore people with at cocktail parties! (One person’s useless is another person’s fascinating!)
Thank you Mercedes. I enjoyed the read and the addition to my mighty onboard WWII database.
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered
I recall seeing these operating as a kid. The harmonic sound of those four props thundering overhead is flat out awesome. Also found myself on a boat at Sproat Lake a few years back so I just had to go see the Hawaii Mars and touch her. Sad to see it decommissioned but glad it’s going to a nearby museum.
I live near an air museum with an operational B-17. The sound of four huge radial engines droning along is incredible. You know it’s the B-17 long before you see it.
1981? at tee-ball practice the B-29 FiFi flew directly overhead coming into land at the Allegheny County Airport. Dad took me on the tour that weekend!!
Back in the 60s my family used to vacation every Labor Day weekend at Clear Lake, CA, about 80 miles NE of San Francisco. A couple of years I saw a Grumman Goose land and take off there. I also saw an Amphicar putting around on the almost always dead calm water.
If money were no object, I would love to own and fly a de Havilland Twin Otter on floats.
They fly in and out of the harbor in Victoria, BC quite frequently. I could watch that and their docking all day long.
The docking in particular… Bobbing up and down on the floats, they taxi in and when they get close to the dock, they can put one engine in beta mode and rotate on their own vertical axis if they need to. So cool!
Clear Lake has a Splash In (Seaplane Fly In) that is really cool. Lots of seaplanes show up.
Fun fact: Clear Lake was an alternate landing site for the Pan Am Clipper flying boats if San Francisco was fogged in.
Cool!
Any idea when the Philippine Mars will go on display in Tucson? I’ve got an annual membership to Pima Air & Space that expires in January!
I’ve always loved planes, but last year was my first time to an aviation museum and I saw a PBY Catalina and it fascinated me. Now I’m not only a plane nerd but I’m a boat plane nerd.
This thing is beautiful!!!
TIL, I know a lot of the USS indy story but somehow I missed this part, thx!
Love the old flying boats and amphibians. Never got to see a Mars, but I’ve ridden in a PBY, an Albatross, a Goose (actually logged some PIC time in the Goose), and a Duck floatplane. They were all a hoot, especially the PBY. Glad these Mars survivors are getting a dignified retirement.
I took the Chalk’s Grumman Mallard to and from Bimini back in 2003. We took off from the water, landed in the bay, and they trundled up onto land to let us off. That was a fantastic experience. Sadly, this was also the plane that crashed due to metal fatigue in the wings two years later. I would love to fly in a PBY—they are one of my favorite planes.
There are still a few Cats operating (several water bomber mods and a few other civil users), somewhere between 14-17 with another seven flyable but in restoration. A new company formed in 2009 intends to build new Catalinas with turboprops in place of the old radials. They claim to have customers and were supposed to go into production in 2023, but the pandemic changed their timetable. So, it looks like you might yet have an opportunity to catch a PBY ride someday.
Consolidated nailed the PBY Catalina design. Good at its designed job and flexible enough to do a lot of other things okay.
I love reading about older planes being converted to fire-fighting duty. It is a sign (to me) they were built to last and perform for the long term.