Warbird Information Exchange

I have been offline for approx.2 yrs due to family matters that led me out of state.
One question that I have is the status of the Martin Mars waterbombers.I recently saw a T.V. show that said that One of the Mar's had a 3 million dollar update and was active. the last I knew was that they were supposed to be grounded and sold off to be museum pieces.
The T.V. said the show was from 2009,so i'm inclined to think at least 1 is active.is this so and what is the others status.

_________________
"WHAT ME WORRY?"

The Coulson (operators) website here: http://www.martinmars.com/

AFAIK, still active, still fighting fires. I think the deal is when they retire (date unspecified) one will go to the Martin Museum, the other stay in a museum at Sproat Lake.

Corrections welcome.

_________________
James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Apparently the Province of British Columbia saw the light and has the Mars back on contract locally for 201. After spending several millions on the hulls and the firefighting technology onboard in recent times, I would not think they will retire for many years.

The local paper had this last week:


World's largest water bomber back in action

By Sandra McCulloch, Times Colonist June 25, 2010

The Martin Mars water bomber is back in B.C. for the summer, having been hired by the province to fight wildfires.

A three-month contract between the province and Coulson Group of Companies, a Port Alberni company that owns the water bomber, began June 1 and ends Aug. 31, Forest Minister Pat Bell said yesterday.

"It replicates a contract we had a few years ago," said Bell.

The Martin Mars spent the last two summers fighting wildfires in California. Wayne Coulson invested in high-technology improvements to the aircraft which increases its effectiveness due to the capability of spotting the location of fires in dense smoke.

Coulson couldn't be reached for comment.

The contract, the cost of which was not made public, guarantees Coulson 45 days of work, Bell said.

Where and when the water bomber works depends on the location of fires and available resources. "We will relocate it as necessary around the province depending on fire conditions," said Bell.

The northern part of the province is beginning to dry out, so the water bomber may be sent there in a few weeks, Bell said.

The updates done to the aircraft make it more useful to the province now, he added.

"The Coulson Group has made a significant investment in the aircraft, upgraded many different components ... and there certainly is a role for it," said Bell. "We're really pleased to have the Martin Mars back on contract and we're looking forward to working with it over the summer months."

The Martin Mars, the largest water bomber in the world, was originally built as a troop carrier in the Second World War.



http://www.timescolonist.com/news/World ... story.html

Local TV news:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaXSlwqjxs4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTYQDGVlKBc

Promotional firefighting footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieCvj91-TD8

Nice water footage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miCeHdfN7UA

And doing it's thing on July 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoHdP4XMaHQ

It made an appearance in the new A-Team movie. Surprised the heck out of me. B.A wasn't happy

Yeah, I saw too. Another thing I saw in that movie was a Harbour Air DHC-2 Beaver landing in the background in supposed "Frankfurt" Germany. If y'all didn't know, practically the entire movie was shot In Vancouver, minus the desert scenes.

And yes the Mars are still active, but thankfully it's been a very very wet and cloudy summer so far and we haven't had to call upon them yet.

Peace,

David

You would think someone would get the idea and build a few more of them. Cheaper than Jets to operate.

Thanks, Davem.

Huh? If that were true, it would've been done. Large firebomber ops are marginal for reliable revenue. I don't think the string of companies that have taken over the ops of the Mars sing 1959 are likely to have just missed 'the idea'. Given they could've restored the one wrecked in the hurricane, there have been easier options too.

Regards,

_________________
James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Yeah if so then why did some outfit even bother with the 747 fire bomber project? Main cause of lack of reliability is the political agenda's, well like some years back when all of em got grounded. And the let it burn policy's etc.

With water close by, I think the Mars is close to the most perfect aircraft for the job. The ability to scoop and drop in quick succession is the key to success, there was a fire a few years back close to my home, the Mars was called in and was doing drops in 6 minute cycles - there simply is nothing out there that can duplicate that type of impact on a fire. The difficulty with the jumbo jets in my mind is: 1) Safely getting low and slow enough to hit the fire with accuracy; 2) the long cycle time with having to go back to base and reload; 3) High capital and operating costs.

There actually only really have been two operators of the Mars, Forest Industry Flying Tankers (FIFT) and the Coulson Group. FIFT was set up by several forestry companies as a private fire department to protect the holdings of the companies - the aircraft were contracted at times to the Province for work on larger fires. FIFT gave up on operations due to the economic changes in the forest industry that saw many companies go bankrupt or significantly downsized (US softwood tariffs - thanks guys!). The consortium slowly broke apart to the point the dollars were not there to fund operations. Coulson purchased the assets a few years back and moved forward making upgrades to the aircraft and techniques to make them viable for operations worldwide.

I don't expect to ever see an aircraft do a better job than the Mars when it comes to fighting fires.