Stolen blatantly from:

http://www.cargolaw.com/gallery.html

Which is a whole afternoon time-waster, be forewarned!



The World War II Martin Mars Flying Boat -- A Long Range Naval Bomber

Her Type Destined 62 Years Later To "Bomb" Southern California

PROLOG >>During World War II, the Glenn L. Martin Co. developed two flying boats, the "Mariner" and the giant "Mars", and after the war the company would develop the last large flying boat in US service, the "Marlin".

The Martin Mars was originally designated as a long range naval bomber. The U.S. Navy took delivery of 5 of the flying boats between 1945 & 1947. Stationed at U.S. Naval Air Station Alameda (San Francisco), the Mars carried troops between California & Hawaii.

The last remaining planes -- Mars Hawaii & Mars Phillipines were acquired by Coulson Aircrane, Ltd (Coulson Flying Tankers) in 1961. Coulson converted the venerable warriors to high volume water tankers which now are an effective tool in fighting woodland fires.

Mars Hawaii & Mars Phillipines arw now permanently based on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada -- from which they can be dispatched to fight wildfires throughout North America.

When wildfires threatened Orange County & San Diego County, California in Oct. 2007 -- Mars Hawaii & Mars Phillipines were summoned to combat by CAL Fire & the San Diego Fire Dept. to set up a firefighting base at Lake Elsinire, the largest natural lake in Southern California.

The only other big tanker in Southern California this fire season was the modern DC-10 Supertanker. Quite a show to watch te the DC-10 Supertanker from near the homes of Michael McDaniel & Byron Countryman of the Countryman & McDaniel law firm in the hills near Malibu, California during the fires this Oct. 2007. The DC-10 Supertanker dumps a whole load of fire retardant, but then has to land and get recharged. The process takes at least an hour. It is not capable of hitting fires repeatedly in an hour, nor is it capable of dealing with multiple fires like we have here now. Plus, it needs a guide plane. In contrast, Mars Hawaii can reload from a lake and drop agan within as little as 7 minutes. This is 1930's technology versus 1970's technology. Who could have guessed?


World War II -- Plus 62 years -- World's Largest Operational Flying Boat Prepares For Combat















Mars Hawaii Will Scoop Her 72,000 gallon Load And Return To The Fire In 7 Minutes

quote:

Mars Hawaii Will Scoop Her 72,000 gallon Load And Return To The Fire In 7 Minutes

I bet its more like 7200 gallons which is still an impressive load!

My best friend, a UAL 777 Captain, his father-in-law flew the later two versions during his Navy days. Very interesting stories.

quote:

Originally posted by Mississippian:

quote:

Mars Hawaii Will Scoop Her 72,000 gallon Load And Return To The Fire In 7 Minutes

I bet its more like 7200 gallons which is still an impressive load!

Yep, sharp eyes here! Plus the '72000 gals' would equate to something over half a million pounds of water. Don't think she will fly with that load!
"During the fire season, the aircraft are kept in a state of readiness to meet the existing fire hazard conditions. They can be in the air in ten minutes and, based on historical data, each can make a drop every fifteen minutes. Working in tandem, this equates to 7,200 US gallons (27,276 litres) every seven minutes and each drop can cover an area of up to 4 acres (1.6 hectares). It has often been said that the Mars, with a 60,000 pound (27,216 kilogram) payload of foam, is like ""a huge wet blanket". The highly experienced Mars pilots, working closely with the Incident Commander, deliver the water or foam right where it is needed.

Each Mars carries 600 US gallons (2,270 litres) of foam concentrate - enough for 21 drops of a 0.4% solution which is the standard used although it may be decided to use more or less foam as dictated by the Incident Commander. The Mars are also equipped to deliver Thermo-Gel which when mixed with water forms a light gel by encapsulating the water droplets. This product provides a more even coating of the fuels as well as lasting longer on the ground."
[lifted from http://www.martinmars.com/index.htm]

Several years ago Simthsonian Air and Space magazine ran a big article on them, it was interesting, these are some great PICS

It so happens I live where their at.. see em all the time and never get tired of it.
When I was in school years ago a friends dad perished in a crash of one of the 1st to be converted to tanker he was the pilot.. while training I think.
The wing is so thick that the engineer can crawl down the inside to check out a motor in flight. They are the only plane I have ever seen that the pilot does not control the throttles, the engineer sitting behind the Pilots works em to the pilots orders!

Man, what an airplane! I'm rated in Catalinas, which are quite slow and can be somewhat of a handful on water, but I'd bet that Mars is a real Cadillac. I would really love to get a checkride in that thing. Beautiful.