With a mighty four-engine roar, the Philippine Mars flew low over the bomber base at Sproat Lake, turned right toward the Alberni Inlet and never looked back.
After two false starts in December 2024, the final Martin Mars waterbomber successfully flew to San Francisco on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025 on its way to its final home at the Pima Air and Space Museum.
A dozen boats crowded around the Philippine Mars early Sunday morning in anticipation of this final flight.
"I'm definitely feeling better about this one," pilot Capt. Todd Davis said as he walked toward the dock to await his brief boat ride out to the seaplane. "Everything just feels right."
Davis was bundled up for the flight, and said it was a definite change from what he was doing earlier in the week. He arrived in Vancouver on Thursday night, missing Friday's test flight around the harbour.
"I came straight from Chile. I was in a much warmer climate than here. A week ago I was fighting fire and wearing shorts and flip-flops and now here we are."
Pilot Capt. Pete Killin took the Philippine Mars on two test flights, Feb. 5 and 7. Two engines were swapped with those from the Hawaii Mars, which is now at the B.C. Aviation Museum in Victoria. "Hawaii (Mars) woke up a lot nicer for us than what the Philippine did," said Britton Coulson, chief operating officer (COO) with Coulson Aviation. The whole endeavour has taken "thousands" of hours, he added.
"We've been struggling with engine challenges, so Philippine has two of its original engines and two of the Hawaii engines on it right now. After the last time the team has spent weeks going through them, very in-depth...everything's been redone now and it's had two really successful test flights. The airplane is in great shape now."
With temperatures Saturday night approaching -6 Celsius, it's the coldest Coulson has ever operated the Martin Mars planes, he said. Crews had heaters on all four engines, and for two nights before the plane's departure a crew member and his son camped out in the plane, keeping heaters on inside the plane to keep the interior warm too, Coulson said.
"It's a pretty neat goodbye for them and a good memory."
Coulson said the departure is bittersweet. "Anytime you've seen the Mars for the last time leave the lake, it definitely is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. They've been here for so many years; I grew up with them. I remember every time we would hear a Mars start up we would run to the boat, we would run to the Sea-Doo and follow it out.
"To see the last one leave for the last time, it's tough. But on the other side, knowing it's going to go to a great museum...it's a great feeling for our whole family."
Early morning fog on Sunday delayed the plane's departure by a couple of hours. The fog and low cloud burned off and the sun came out, creating perfect conditions for a low flypast of the bomber base before the flight crew turned the plane south. People waited around Sproat Lake and Harbour Quay for hours to see their final glimpse of the plane.
"I feel it right in the chest. It's something that if you aren't here to experience it, you really don't know what it feels like," said Glen Mee, who has a cabin on the lake and used to watch the waterbombers fly overhead. "I wouldn't have missed it."
There was much excitement from retired U.S. Naval members and aviation enthusiasts from the San Francisco area as the Philippine Mars made its way down the west coast. The iconic plane flew over the famed Golden Gate Bridge before landing in San Francisco Bay and getting towed into a sea plane base at Alameda.
Previous plans were to fly to San Diego for some photo opportunities, however Coulson said that portion of the trip has been cancelled. The plane will depart San Francisco on Feb. 10 and head to Arizona, where it will land at an undisclosed lake near Tucson. Once there the plane will be taken out of the water, disassembled at its factory joins and trucked to Pima Air and Space Museum where it will be reassembled and put on display.
Coulson said the museums are the best places for the waterbombers' retirement.
"The B.C. Aviation Museum is the best place for Hawaii because it did so much good work here in Canada. For the Philippine to go back in its original Navy livery to be displayed in the U.S. at a U.S.-based museum that gets millions of visitors a year...it's going to be a great home where its history is going to be preserved forever."
