OK, for those who like their 'planes to be
boats and big and wet...
There’s a bunch of film of the Mars’ early days, including two launches (The Old Lady being one) and one of the Navy’s record lifts.
You can see these at the Pathe newsreel site. It’s a great resource, but some folks have had problems with using it because of IT restrictions. You need to allow pop ups, then you can view individual film strips and stills, and if you want to download free low-res versions of the films you can do so, but you do need to go through the ‘purchase’ process – they’re still free, but some get put off because they think they’re gonna be asked for money. You aren’t, if you stick to ‘low res’ and choose ‘eddicational’ use. And some people have found that the Norton anti-virus software screws Pathe’s site up.
Go to
www.britishpathe.com
For the Mars films, go to ‘Advanced Search’ and then enter the following film numbers in the ‘Film ID’ box. (Because I’ve done the hard work for you, aren’t I nice?) Click on the image or the ‘preview stills’ link for more, and if you want to download it click on ‘download video’ if you just want the one, or ‘add to basket’ if you want a bunch. Follow the instructions, download, and then travel memory lane.
1137.37
1161.15
1364.09
1378.01
2254.22
Enjoy. You can search the website, but they were never very good at naming the aircraft correctly, so it's a bit hit and miss. I found those (and a LOT of other film) by going through dozens of pages found under the search terms 'flying boat' and another search of 'seaplane'. I enjoyed it though...