When wildfires burn in B.C., there’s at all times the query: the place is the Martin Mars water bomber?
It is an iconic piece of equipment, introduced into service within the late Fifties to struggle wildfires.
It was final utilized in 2015 to assist struggle fires in B.C., California, Mexico and Alberta.
Now, the province says it is going to quickly grow to be the centrepiece of a brand new wildfire exhibit on the British Columbia Aviation Museum in North Saanich, B.C., though there is no agency date on when the plane might be prepared for viewing.
The Martin Mars might be flown from the Coulson Aviation Tanker Base in Port Alberni to Victoria Worldwide Airport by the tip of the 12 months. As a result of it might probably solely land and take off in water, it is going to go away from Sproat Lake, and land in Saanich Inlet.
“The Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber is a proud image of B.C.͛s ingenuity and innovation, representing cutting-edge expertise in aviation firefighting of its time,” Minister of Tourism, Arts, Tradition and Sport Lana Popham stated in a information launch.
Museum president Steve Nichol stated this venture has been years within the making.
“I’m overjoyed on the prospect of not solely preserving this classic plane, however to have the ability to showcase its fascinating historical past as a B.C. aviation story,” he stated.
Nichol estimates there are about 20,000 guests to the aviation museum every year.
‘An essential piece of our province’s historical past’
The huge air tanker was constructed as a transport airplane for the U.S. Navy in 1946, and is likely one of the largest fixed-wing water bombers on the planet, with a capability to hold greater than 27,000 litres of water.
Historians say the U.S. Navy produced six of the planes as prototypes for large-scale transport between the West Coast and Hawaii. However when aviation expertise progressed, the planes had been retired and put up for public sale.
The province says the Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber served as the most important air ambulance through the Korean Battle, and the airplane’s present proprietor, Coulson Avaiation, stated it had the capability to hold greater than 120 troopers plus medical crews.
B.C.’s forestry business got here collectively to buy 4 planes in 1958, and transformed them into firefighting machines. However when firefighting techniques modified from dousing fires to containing them, the water bombers had been used much less incessantly.
The province ended its contract with Coulson Aviation in 2013.
The province says it is going to present $250,000 to guard and protect the plane as a part of the exhibit.
“We acknowledge the worth the Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber holds for many individuals and have heard their want to have it housed within the British Columbia Aviation Museum, the place it may be displayed and guarded as an essential piece of our province’s historical past,” Popham stated.
