Martin Mars Water Bomber to be Retired

After 52 accident free years of distinguished fire fighting service in British Columbia Canada and beyond. The Martin JRM Mars the worlds largest successfully operated flying boat is facing a forced retirement, since our provincial government minister of forests Steve Thompson has declared the Mars too old and ill equipped for use in modern firefighting subsequently cancelling its fire contract for 2014 instead opting for the much smaller single engine 802 Fire Boss fleet run by Abotsford based Conair.The last 2 flying Mars aircraft since 1961 , the Philippine and Hawaii Mars have racked up an impressive record of fire fighting excellence dousing countless forest fires for nearly five decades.The Philippine Mars was retired in 2007 a victim of cutbacks for firefighting aircraft across BC. the Philippine is now being restored for a brief return to flight for a one way trip to Pensacola Florida Naval air museum. The Hawaii Mars's future as an active flying aircraft is now uncertain. Its fire contract expired in September and performed its last flight and water drop on September 1st 2013 and is now inactive on dry dock never to fly again for many years possibly until the Philippine Mars preps for the big trip to Florida The Hawaii Mars is up for sale for $3 million. The day when the mighty Mars flies away from Sproat Lake and the Alberni Valley for the very last time may not be far off. These are some footage of the Hawaii Mars on firefighting and test missions in the summer of 2013 knowing full well that her water bombing days were numbered. The Coulson Group Co,will be replacing the iconic Mars for the more modern C-130 Hercules which looks a little like like the Mars. They will be used all over the US and Australia, which was Coulson's original purpose for the Mars planes until the customer base dwindled to zero. Not sure about the C130's working in Canada after the whole Thompson affair unless the Liberal Govt get ousted after next elections As of now some of you are aware that the Hawaii Mars has been temporarly taken out of retirement due to the extreme drought and fire situation which also coincided with the scheduled flight training of 12 Chinese pilots to prepare for China's new AG 600 flying boat, a possible Mars replacement