Tag Archives: mars

Philippine Mars Awaits Its Turn

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By the time this post goes live, Philippine Mars will probably have made its final trip from Vancouver Island to Arizona where it is joining the Pima museum collection. Whether I have got to see it on that journey or not, I don’t know when I am writing this. It is supposed to make a couple of stops en route but will I be there? During the visit to see the Hawaii Mars prepare for its last flight, Philippine was sitting on the ramp at Sproat Lake being prepared for its move. From the water we could get a reasonable view of it up on the slipway. Fingers crossed I get to see it fly but who knows.

Later Than Planned, But Hawaii Mars Gets Airborne

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In a previous post, I shared images of Hawaii Mars as it was moored up on Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island.  Our plan had been to get it while it was taxiing out and taking off.  Our understanding of previous flights was that they had gone a long way up the lake before turning around and taking off back towards their starting point.  We had limitations on how far we were allowed to take the boat and also the time we had to get back to our drop off point.

The understanding was that they would fire up just after 5pm and be airborne at 5:30.  With our rental ending at 6:00, this gave us a bit of a narrow margin for racing back.  However, it should be able to work.  However, that relied on them hitting those times.  That wasn’t happening.  We got a message that they were going to start just after 6:00.  Now what to do.  With no sign of movement, we headed back to the drop off to see if anyone else was renting the boat after us.  No, they were shutting down for the day.  We begged with the guy who told us he was due to end shift.  However, he had a couple of things to close out so told us we could have half an hour tops.

We thanked him profusely and headed back out.  We wouldn’t have the time for the original plan so, instead, we headed down towards the narrows that we anticipated they would have to come through and waited.  We finally saw engines start cranking.  With all running, they taxied away from us to the end of the lake.  Then they turned and started back our way.  As we watched, the spray on the fuselage grew larger and it became apparent that they weren’t going to be taxing past us but were actually taking off.

As they motored towards us and got larger and larger in the viewfinder, the question was how low a shutter speed was acceptable when shooting a moving plane from a boat bobbing around on a lake.  Caution was appropriate plus a high frame rate.  They roared past with gorgeous light on the airframe.  A helicopter was filming them and also came in to frame which was a nice addition.  A little beyond our location and they were airborne.  What a result.  We then high tailed it back to the dock where our excellent person was waiting for us.  It could hardly have gone better.

Checking Out Hawaii Mars on the Water – We’re Not Alone!

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The retirement of the Martin Mars firefighting aircraft of Coulson took place about eight years ago and the two remaining aircraft have been in storage at Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island ever since.  I have previously swung by when en route to Tofino to take a look at them but I had never seen them in the water.  Recently it was announced that they were both moving to their final resting places.  Hawaii Mars was to go to the British Columbia Aviation Museum in Victoria with Philippine Mars heading to Pima.  The flight of Hawaii Mars was to include a bunch of flybys at significant locations in the area before ending up at Victoria.

This got a ton of attention in the aviation world, but it was just as big a deal for the local population.  It was interesting to discover just how important these planes were to the people in the area as everyone I met was interested in them and had something to say about them.  A bunch of us decided to head up the weekend that the move was supposed to take place.  The original plan was to go on the Saturday which had been suggested as the move date.  As things got closer, it became clear the move would be on the Sunday instead.

In the week before, the plane had been out on the lake doing taxi trials and then getting some flying time in.  It became apparent that another flight would probably occur on the Saturday for some photo work.  We had settled on a plan to head to Sproat Lake and rent a boat to go and see it in the water.  The potential for some flying was a nice bonus.

When we rented the boat, the guy at the rental facility suggested to us that we should check out the flying boat while we were there.  We explained that was the only reason we were there at all!  It wasn’t far from the dock to Hawaii Mars at its mooring buoy.  We were not the only ones interested.  The plane was surrounded by boats, kayaks, paddle boarders and even some people swimming up to it from whatever they had come up on.  As we worked our way around the plane to get images, it was a constant effort to be aware of who else was nearby and coming in or out of the shot.  Some boats were going under the wings which took them perilously close to the props but, thankfully, nothing went wrong.  We were still hoping for a flight, of course, but more to come on that.

Martin Mars Storage

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The days of the Martin Mars flying boats are probably done.  Coulson had been flying them on firefighting duties but they have been superseded by more modern and cost efficient types.  One of the airframes had been painted up in US Navy colors as what was supposed to be a move to a museum but that plan fell through.  The two airframes are now sitting on the ramp at Sproat Lake and are showing no sign of moving.

The drive to Tofino takes you right past the Coulson facility so I stopped off on the way over.  They don’t take visitors anymore so I just took a look through the fence.  On the way over, I was really looking in to the sun so getting a shot was tricky.  On our way back a few days later, we had made progress compared to schedule and the light was on the better side so I stopped off briefly to get a couple of more shots.  I wonder what the future holds for these planes?