The roaring presence of the Hawaii Martin Mars coming in low over the Saanich Peninsula for its last flight on Sunday was exactly how Dean Christie remembered the plane sounded when he watched it scoop up water in the B.C. Interior four decades ago.
He was a young child then, worried sick about a nearby wildfire in Salmon Arm.
His mother took him up the road from Salmon Arm to watch the massive plane scoop water from Shuswap Lake, he said.
The bomber’s presence reassured him that “everything was going to be OK,” said Christie, who brought along his six-year-old son, Andrew, to see the plane’s final descent at Patricia Bay.
Tens of thousands gathered Sunday to watch the water bomber — long a symbol of firefighting in B.C. — make its final flight from Sproat Lake to Patricia Bay across Vancouver Island. The plane will be hauled out of the water and transported to the B.C. Aviation Museum in North Saanich, where it will become a permanent exhibit.
Wayne Coulson, CEO of Coulson Aviation, said hundreds of boats and thousands of spectators were at Sproat Lake to send off the plane when the Coulson family boarded the Hawaii Martin Mars for a loop around the lake prior to its departure.
Sunday’s flight itinerary included Port Alberni, Comox, Campbell River, Powell River Nanaimo, the Gulf Islands and downtown Victoria.
When the plane reached Crofton, the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, fresh from an airshow in Abbotsford, began accompanying it as Hawaii Martin Mars neared its last descent.
Thousands lined the shoreline and Patricia Bay Park for the occasion.
Traffic on area roads came to a standstill when the Martin Mars made its first flyover of the Saanich Peninsula at 6:15 p.m. on its way to downtown Victoria, accompanied by the Snowbirds.
The cheers that accompanied the water bomber when it returned about 25 minutes later were only barely drowned out by the thundering roar of the plane coming over the bay to land.
People stood on top of cars and trucks to get a better view.
A final cheer arose from the shoreline when the propellers of the massive plane shut off for the last time at 6:50 p.m. after mooring at the Institute of Ocean Sciences.
Wendy Magnes, who had brought a picnic table, camping chairs, and dinner to a viewpoint just outside the institute, said the Martin Mars represented a historic period of firefighting in B.C.
Magnes recalled seeing the “awe-inspiring” water bomber in action flying over Kamloops in the 1970s.
“You would see it fly over and you would know what it was doing,” she said.
It was surprisingly emotional watching the plane make its last flight, she said, wiping away tears. “It’s a testament to the innovation on how we do things here in this province.”
Only seven of the Martin Mars aircraft were ever made by the Glenn L. Martin Company for the U.S. Navy as ocean patrol and long-range transport during the Second World War. Most were used for naval cargo on the San Francisco-Honolulu route until 1956.
Sold as scrap, four of the remaining aircraft were purchased by a B.C. forestry consortium and converted to water bombers.
Hawaii Martin Mars was the last to retire from active service, in 2015.
Its last flight was captained by Peter Killin, 70, who had flown the plane for more than 17 years.
“It was a good flight. It was just like the airplane wanted to go to work,” Killin said in an interview shortly after disembarking from the plane.
“It’s done. It’s the end of the road. I won’t get to fly this Mars ever again, but it’s nice to be on the last crew, and this was my crew of preference.”
The crew list included first officer Rick Matthews, lead engineer Dave Millman, flight engineer Roy Copeland and plane owner Britton Coulson.
Coulson said the plane has been maintained since it was taken out of active use in 2015. “We’ve looked after it, we’ve always had crew on it.”
Whether Martin Mars was going at 185 knots at 500 feet of altitude or cruising up the coast, “the airplane just purred and did an amazing job,” he said.
Did you take a photo of the Hawaii Martin Mars on its last flight? You can share it with the Times Colonist by email at [email protected]. Please include your name, the location of where you took the photo from, and any memories you have of the Hawaii Martin Mars that you may want to share. Be sure to put the words "Martin Mars" in the subject line. We'll share some of our favourites in the paper and online.
Everything you need to know about Hawaii Mars's last flight
When will Hawaii Mars take off from Sproat Lake?
The water bomber is scheduled to take off from its home base on Sproat Lake about 3:20 p.m.
When will Hawaii Mars arrive at Patricia Bay?
The water bomber is expected to arrive at Patricia Bay in North Saanich between 6 and 6:30 p.m. today, depending on the weather.
The flight route will pass over several towns
The final flight plan will include circling flyovers at several Island towns, likely Port Alberni, Campbell River, Courtenay, Nanaimo, Duncan, Ladysmith and Crofton.
These are the approximate flyover times for communities along the route, but the B.C. Aviation Museum says they could vary by 30 minutes either way.
3:20 p.m. — Port Alberni
3:40 p.m. — Comox
4 p.m. — Campbell River
4:10 p.m. — Cape Mudge
4:30 p.m. — Powell River
4:50 p.m. — Comox
5:40 p.m. — Nanaimo
5:50 p.m. — Gulf Islands
6:10 p.m. — Crofton, where the Canadian Forces Snowbirds will begin its escort
6:15 p.m. — First pass over Pat Bay & Victoria Airport
6:30 p.m. — Downtown Victoria and then back along east coast toward the Victoria airport
6:50 p.m. — Low pass over Victoria runway 32 by the B.C. Aviation Museum, right turn over Satellite channel landing off of runway 27
7 p.m. — Landing at Patricia Bay on the Saanich Inlet
The museum’s Facebook page (facebook.com/BCAviationMuseum) will provide live flight details prior to arrival, and its website (bcam.net) will have a map of the best water viewing sites for the public to see the final landing, and also show the closed areas.
How can I track the Hawaii Mars flight?
The roar of the plane’s massive 10,000-horsepower engines will be hard to miss. But the Martin Mars can also be tracked on Flightradar24.com using the aircraft registration code CFLYL. It wasn't showing up for at least some users on Sunday.
There won’t be a water drop
The museum says there won’t be a water drop: “As much as everyone wants to see this happen, for this special final flight there is no water drop option possible.”
But there will be Snowbirds!
At Crofton, the Martin Mars will be joined by the Canadian Forces Snowbirds — coming from the Abbotsford Air Show — and escorted in style to its final landing at Patricia Bay.
All nine Snowbird planes will take part and are set to do a flypast over Greater Victoria.
Moving the plane is a massive undertaking
The aircraft is big — really big. It is 120 feet long with a 200-foot wingspan and has the ability to drop 25,000 litres of water in one pass. Moving it from the water to the museum will take several days.
First, the aircraft will have beaching gears (wheels) attached and be “de-watered” and winched up a ramp and onto a concrete apron.
Between Aug. 19 and 23, Nickel Brothers Moving will lift the Hawaii Mars onto a heavy-haul trailer, and when airport operations have ceased for the night, move the aircraft through the airport lands.
That will require fencing, light posts and power poles along the route to be moved out of the way.
Why is the plane being moved, anyway?
The Hawaii Mars had its last fire season in B.C. in 2015 and is being moved to the B.C. Aviation Museum in North Saanich, where it will be put on display. The grand opening of the exhibit is set for Sept. 28.
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