The Hawaii Mars Forever Home Arrival Flight to the BC Aviation Museum is Sunday, August 11th, 2024, with the Canadian Forces Snowbirds!
VICTORIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: The BC Aviation Museum is thrilled to finally announce the Hawaii Martin Mars water bomber’s final flight to its forever home is Sunday, August 11, 2024. The aircraft is to become the crown jewel in the museum’s growing BC Wildfire Aviation exhibit.
The public is invited to witness this a once in a lifetime event, like seeing the space shuttle launch, as this is not only the last flight of this Mighty Martin Mars, but it will also arrive in formation with all nine planes of the amazing Canadian Forces Snowbirds demonstration team.
The museum warmly thanks everyone at Coulson Aviation for their incredible hard work in preparing and delivering the aircraft for donation.
The Mars Saved BC, Now BC Saves The Mars!
PAT BAY ARRIVAL TIME ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 11, 2024:
Approximately between 6pm to 6:30pm, weather dependant.
FLIGHT ROUTE:
Along the east coast of Vancouver Island.
TRACK THE FLIGHT LIVE:
Flightradar24 is a global flight tracking service on which the public can follow the Hawaii Mars using its aircraft registration code CFLYL.
The museum’s Facebook account will also provide live flight details prior to arrival.
BEST PLACES TO VIEW THE LANDING AT PAT BAY:
Please refer to the land and water viewing maps here, plus to be aware of areas closed to the public.
THE FLIGHT ROUTE SIGNIFICANCE:
The Hawaii Mars final flight might pass over several BC west coast forest communities to commemorate the forest industry’s original establishment of the unique Martin Mars water bomber program in the early 1960s.
MINISTRY OF TOURISM, ARTS, CULTURE AND SPORT STATEMENT:
This final flight of the Hawaii Mars Martin is an exciting moment. As one of only two Martin Mars water bombers left in existence, this aircraft is a historic piece of B.C.’s aviation story. Our government has heard people’s desire to have it protected and we are proud to have provided $250,000 to support its preservation as part of B.C.’s history at the BC Aviation Museum.
—Minister Lana Popham
COULSON AVIATION STATEMENT:
We are proud to see the Hawaii Mars make its final journey to the British Columbia Aviation Museum. Our dedicated team has been working tirelessly to prepare the aircraft for this significant moment. The enthusiastic response from both the local and aviation communities has been incredible. For the safety of our crew, the aircraft, and the Sproat Lake boating community, we won’t be sharing specific flight details, but we look forward to welcoming this historic plane to its new home at the museum.
— Coulson Aviation
SNOWBIRDS STATEMENT:
“The Canadian Forces Snowbirds are proud to be able to fly alongside this icon of Canadian aerial forest fighting as it takes its final journey to Victoria and its new home at the British Columbia Aviation Museum. The Snowbirds salute the brave firefighters, in the air and on the ground, that work to protect our country from wildfires and we are excited to see this piece of aviation history be preserved and on display to honour and inspire aviators past, present and future.”
– Major Brent Handy, Snowbird 1, Team Lead
ICONIC:
For over 5 decades the Mars program had an incredibly positive impact in Canadian aviation forest firefighting, and the aircraft is beloved by many especially since the Hawaii Mars is one of only two remaining. As the largest water bomber in the world with a 200-foot wingspan, the aircraft will become one of the biggest attractions in Victoria and on Vancouver Island. In its firefighting days it could drop more than 25,000 litres of water on each run!
GLOBAL FANS:
International interest in the final flight and the Hawaii Mars has made it the number one international vintage aviation story. For example, there are already over 5 million hits on the museum’s social media.
SUPPORT THE RESCUE!
Please donate to the official GoFundMe campaign: bcam.net
5 KEY HAWAII MARS EVENTS:
These dates are subject to change depending on weather, component sourcing, staff scheduling, etc.
The Arrival
Sunday, August 11, between approximately 6-6:30pm on the ocean in Pat Bay beside Institute of Ocean Sciences (IOS) and Coast Guard base, in formation with the Snowbirds.
The De-Watering
Wednesday, August 14, from 3 to 7pm, the Hawaii Mars will be deftly maneuvered through the IOS breakwaters and slowly winched up a Coast Guard ramp onto the IOS concrete apron property. This moment brings the Hawaii Mars full circle as this was the original ramp and location used in 1960 to bring the aircraft on land to convert it into that’s era’s cutting edge water bomber.
The De-Watering partners are Nickel Brothers Moving, BC Aviation Musuem, Coulson Aviation and Cold Water Divers.
The Move
Sometime between Monday, August 19 to Friday, August 23, Nickel Brothers Moving will have completed lifting the Hawaii Mars into a 360-movable heavy-haul trailer, and around midnight move the aircraft from IOS through the airport while airport operations have ceased until morning. The move requires 3-4hrs to complete, with the aircraft being placed in its outside display location at the museum.
The Closed Display
From the day after the move, the Hawaii Mars becomes a closed display where visitors are welcome to walk around the outside of the aircraft while different crews complete the final open display preparations over several weeks.
The Grand Opening
On Saturday, September 28 is the Hawaii Mars official ribbon cutting for visitors. The museum is planning a uniquely designed OPEN experience format so that everyone may explore inside the aircraft and even get sit in the pilot’s chair 4-stories above the ground.
