Port Alberni residents are saddened to see their town’s Icon, The Hawaii Mars Water Bomber Aircraft, presently lounging on the waters of Sproat Lake, Vancouver Island, but tentatively scheduled to take its last flight on Sunday, August 11.
The iconic aircraft has been donated to the BC Aviation Museum in North Saanich, Coulson Aviation declared. The Province of BC has donated $250,000 for the last flight, while the BC Aviation Museum is footing $500,000 towards this endeavour. Total cost for the flight is estimated at $1 million.
Coulson Aviation pilot Peter Killin, who has spent more than 1,000 hours at the controls of the Martin Mars, will pilot the aircraft from Sproat Lake to the East side of Vancouver Island and over his hometown of Powell River and onto Victoria International Airport on the Saanich Inlet.
According to owner Wayne Coulson, “the City of Port Alberni Council declined against keeping the Icon aircraft in their hometown because of significant fear to the risk and danger to the craft.” Liability and insuring the craft’s safety was their main concern.
At the Coulson’s employees, friends and family BBQ, Sunday, August 4th, the line-up of onlookers stepping into the hold of the Philippine Martin Mars Water Bomber, now painted in its original dark blue, presently sitting on the grounds of the Coulson base, was a non-stop procession.
The Philippine Mars Aircraft was sold to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, USA, while the Hawaii Mars Water Bomber Aircraft was donated to the BC Aviation Museum.
The BC Aviation Museum is fundraising to build a new hangar to house the Mars Bomber and other BC firefighting aircrafts on land that was donated to the museum by the Victoria Airport Authority.
The Hawaii Maars Water Bomber Aircraft went up for sale in 2022 for $5 million dollars but is now being donated to the BC Aviation Museum.
Initially constructed in the 1940s, the Martin Mars was the largest aircraft built by the US Government during WWII. Only seven of the aircrafts – with a 200-foot wing span and 120 feet in length – were ever built.
The United States Navy operated the airplanes between California and the Hawaiian Islands for 13 years in support of military operations in the South Pacific.
In 1958, a consortium of timber companies with the subsidiary ‘the Forest Industrial Flying Tankers (FIFT)’ purchased the surviving fleet of four aircrafts and converted the Mars airframes to water bombers in 1960 and operated as aerial firefighting aircrafts for 47 years in BC.
The Coulson family-owned company acquired the Hawaii Mars Water Bomber and the Philippine Mars Aircraft in 2007 and operated them as firefighting units until 2013 when the Province of BC ended their contract. Together the team of aircrafts collectively dropped 55,000 liters of water as an initial attack strategy to tame a forest fire. That is, each aircraft is capable of dropping 7,200 gallons of water and/or gel at one time.
Over the span of 55 years, these iconic aircrafts served the Province of BC from 1960 to 2015 and dropped over 50 million gallons each which is more water on fires than any other single firefighting aircraft in history anywhere in the world.
The Hawaii Mars was contracted to help fire fighting briefly in 2015 – their last flights at Sproat Lake ending an era of bomber rumbling throughout the Alberni Valley.
Hence, this summer the residents of Port Alberni are again witness to the mighty rumble of the majestic aircraft and if lucky enough win a local Sproat Lake flight on the world’s largest water bomber. Some paid flights were offered. Port Alberni residents pay $1,000 while out-of-towners gave a mere $5,000 USD. Some VIP flights were offered. City Councillors and City CAO enjoyed the lake taxi tour and ACRD Sproat Lake Director Penny Cote also got a tour of the lake on the majestic beast.
However, residents are feeling the loss of their town’s Icon – one that will be remembered by many long-time residents who would run outdoors to view the majestic aircraft fly by.
Coulson often did a fly-by during many of the city’s local events and it was like the world stopped and everyone would look at the sky as if it were Superman, but no, it was the Martin Mars displaying its fine supremacy of gigantic flying machinery. It will be so missed.
Like Port Alberni-born resident, Lisa Hagen, said, “This would have been a great Tourist Attraction – One that would have seen people stay in Port Alberni and enjoy our city instead of driving straight through to the West Coast.”
– Charlaine Lacroix, Port Alberni
