martin mars water bomber

B.C. water bomber leaves for California fires
Sandra McCulloch , CanWest News Service; Victoria Times Colonist
Published: Wednesday, October 24, 2007
VICTORIA - A Martin Mars water bomber was expected to leave B.C. at dawn today for San Diego, where weary U.S. crews are battling wildfires that so far have burned more than 750 homes and forced the evacuation of more than half a million residents.

The water bomber's owner, Wayne Coulson, flew with 10 employees to San Diego on Tuesday and will meet up with the aircraft as it arrives.

"We're really grateful to have it here," said Maurice Luque, spokesman of the San Diego fire department.

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Font:****The fires, fuelled by drought and fanned by the dry Santa Ana winds, are not contained but the winds lessened somewhat on Tuesday.

"It would have been so wonderful to have had the Mars here a day or so ago when the fire first broke out," said Luque, adding that resources, personnel and equipment have been sent from Northern California to help out.

The fires could be larger than the ones that devastated the San Diego region in 2003, said Luque: "We thought we saw the last of fires of that magnitude but we definitely have that here."

Coulson Group had been anticipating a call for the water bomber and plans were in place to send it south.

"I've been down with San Diego fire department four times in the last five weeks working ... on placing the Mars down there for the Santa Anas," said Coulson on Tuesday. "We're ahead of the game, we've flown into a bunch of the water reservoirs down there so we have a sense of where we're going to go."

A tractor-trailer used for specialized maintenance and a fuel truck left for San Diego Monday.

This isn't the first time a Coulson-owned aircraft has fought wildfires in Southern California. A firefighting helicopter worked in the Los Angeles basin for five years.

"It's a natural fit for us," said Coulson. "We know everybody, we know what we're going into and everyone knows us. We're pretty pleased."

The water bomber will likely be put to work covering homes and structures with a protective covering called Thermo-Gel, which consists of 98 per cent water and a super-absorbent polymer. Fighting the fires right now is just too difficult, said Coulson.

"There's not a hell of a lot you can do with a 60-mph wind and fire coming at you other than just gelling homes to protect as many as you can," he said.

Victoria Times Colonist

JRM Mars
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JRM Mars

The "Caroline Mars" JRM-2 Mars in Navy service.
Type Flying boat transport
Water bomber
Manufacturer Martin
Maiden flight 1941
Introduced 1945, U.S. Navy
Retired 1956, U.S. Navy
Status 2 survive as water bombers
Primary users United States Navy, 1945-1956
Flying Tankers, 1959-present
Produced 1945-1947
Number built 6
The Martin JRM Mars was the largest flying boat ever to enter production. The U.S. Navy contracted the development of the XPB2M-1 Mars in 1938 as a flying dreadnought for ocean patrol.

Contents
1 Navy service
2 Civilian use
3 Specifications (JRM-3 Mars)
4 References
5 External links
6 Related content

[edit] Navy service

The prototype XPB2M-1 MarsThe Martin Company effectively scaled up their successful PBM Mariner patrol bomber design to produce the prototype XPB2M-1 Mars.[1] After flight tests with the XPB2M between 1941 and 1943, she was passed on to the Navy. The original patrol bomber concept was considered obsolete by this time, and the Mars was converted into a transport aircraft designated the XPB2M-1R. The Navy was satisfied with the performance, and ordered 20 of the modified JRM-1 Mars.[1] The first, named Hawaii Mars, was delivered in June 1945, but the with the end of World War II the Navy scaled back their order to just 5 more boats.[2] Though the original Hawaii Mars was lost in an accident on Chesapeake Bay, the other 5 Mars were built with the last delivered in 1947.

Named the Marianas Mars, Philippine Mars, Marshall Mars, Caroline Mars, and a second Hawaii Mars, the 5 production Mars aircraft entered service ferrying cargo to Hawaii and the Pacific Islands. On May 5, 1950, the Marshall Mars was lost near Hawaii when an engine fire consumed the airplane after her crew had evacuated. The remaining "Big Four" flew record amounts of cargo on the San Francisco-Honolulu route efficiently until 1956, when they were parked at NAS Alameda.[1]