Mars Attacks!

Flight Journal, Jun 2005 by Eichel, Garth

THE MARTIN MARS WATER BOMBER TO THE RESCUE

''We need the Mars! Get the Marsr shouts a frantic firefighter over the VHF fire frequency. A wildfire races up a hillside on the eastern fringe of Osoyoos, British Columbia (B.C.), Canada, and seems certain to engulf a house in its path. Helicopters bucket water onto the flames to slow the fire's advance, but the flames still leap, unimpeded, up the hill. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, the Fire Boss, circling overhead in a Bird Dog, calls in the Martin Mars water bombers to save the dwelling.

Through a veil of smoke and cinders, Capt. Peter Killin weaves his 162,000-pound red-and-white Mars flying boat along the Okanagan Valley and towards the blaze.

"Which house?" he calls.

"Your target is the white house!" yells the firefighter on the ground.

Killin sees it: an upscale home directly in the path of the inferno. Already, flame tendrils lick the building supports as the two homeowners, having refused to evacuate, throw buckets of water from the balcony above.

Manhandling the enormous Mars through the turbulent convective air currents caused by the fire, Killin slows the airplane to 120 knots and lines up for a downhill run at 150 feet above the ground. Passing almost directly over the house, he depresses the load-release switch on the control wheel and drops a 7,200-gallon wall of water and fire retardant directly into the path of the blaze. The home and its owners are saved-for now. Text and photos by Garth Eichel

Without question, Killin's accurate drop averted disaster, but like many captains who fly the Martin Mars, he gives much of the credit to the airplane. Flying the biggest water bomber in the world, he says, "... is like tossing horseshoes or hand grenades: close is good enough."

True, perhaps, but Killin's modesty isn't convincing. What he doesn't mention is that he is one of the rare few who have the experience, skill and dedication necessary to work for Flying Tankers Inc.-the company that operates the only two Martin Mars flying boats in existence.

For pilots and engineers such as Killin, operating the world's largest flying boat is not so much a job as a way of life-one that requires a unique personality and uncommon commitment.

TRUE CALLING

Built by the Glenn L. Martin Co. during WW II, the Martin Mars flying boat never went into large-scale production because of one major miscalculation: bad timing. Introduced near the end of the War in the Pacific, the Mars showed great promise but never had an opportunity to truly prove itself.

Designed as a long-range "flying dreadnought" for the U.S. Navy, the big, lumbering Mars was deemed easy prey for enemy fighters and was consequently converted into a cargo and troop-transport craft. The Mars excelled in these roles and set many endurance and freight-hauling records. But at the end of the War, the Navy cancelled its order for 20 of the behemoths and settled instead for the four it already had in service. The "big four"-the Marianas, Caroline, Philippine and Hawaii Mars-were retired in 1956 and sold for scrap in 1959.

In that year, a B.C. corporate pilot, Dan McIvor, proposed using the surplus flying boats for aerial firefighting. McIvor helped to found Forest Industries Flying Tankers Inc., bought the four airplanes and refitted them as water bombers.

In 1961, the Mars flying boats began firefighting, but they had an inauspicious start: the Marianas was lost that year when it flew into a ridge, killing all four crew. Then, in the winter of 1963, while at shore for maintenance, the Caroline was destroyed during a violent storm.

Since then, the two remaining airplanes have flown more than 40 successful, accident-free fire seasons from their base on Sproat Lake, just west of Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island, B.C. In all that time, no major fire has ever gotten out of control.

BIG TIMBER

Flying Tankers Inc. is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Vancouver-based TimberWest Forest Corp.-owner of the largest acreage of private forest in Western Canada. With an annual budget of approximately $1.5 million (Canadian), Flying Tankers operates the two Martin Mars and a Cessna 210 for the protection of its parent company's vast timber resources. To offset costs, TimberWest leases the aircraft to other companies and provincial and state governments for approximately $15,000 an hour for one Mars flying boat and $26,800 an hour for both.

Considering the Mars' fire-suppression capabilities, that's good value. "There isn't a better initial attack aircraft in the world," says Roy Copeland, director of maintenance for Flying Tankers. "There's nothing with the same capability and loads; the airplane is so effective that controlling one fire pays for the aircraft." True enough, but like most firefighting jobs, there's a lot of sitting and waiting for the alarm to ring. On average, Flying Tankers doesn't log much more than 100 hours a season on each airframe, and much of that is accumulated on training and maintenance flights.

In recent years, the Mars have mostly been used in Western Canada, particularly with the B.C. Forest Service, but the company has also operated in Alberta, Washington State and California. Terry Dixon, general manager of Flying Tankers, says the company has explored a number of potential overseas contracts and is prepared to take on new work in Eastern Canada and the U.S. He is, however, careful to note: "Our first priority is to TimberWest and the province of British Columbia."