Here's some pics I took yesterday at Lake Elsinore calif. The mars flew down from canada to help with the calif wild fires going on.

Great pix..thanks for sharing.

Originally Posted by Art Schmitz

Great pix..thanks for sharing.

your welcome. it was really cool to see this plane fly.

There could well be still in existance, and even still flying & working, airplanes that I personaly saw, flying & working, as a high-school student, 60 years ago, but the only two I know of, for sure, is the lovely lady you have so kindly posted, Hawaii Mars, and her sister, Philipine Mars! Many thanks.
As an Air Scout, I had a gate-pass for Alameda Naval air station, the home port & eastern terminus for the Mars boat's trans-Pacific runs. I spent many a summer day on the recreation float, near the Mars's mooring point, so got to see all 8 flying boats, at one time or another.

Originally Posted by Lancer31

There could well be still in existance, and even still flying & working, airplanes that I personaly saw, flying & working, as a high-school student, 60 years ago, but the only two I know of, for sure, is the lovely lady you have so kindly posted, Hawaii Mars, and her sister, Philipine Mars! Many thanks.
As an Air Scout, I had a gate-pass for Alameda Naval air station, the home port & eastern terminus for the Mars boat's trans-Pacific runs. I spent many a summer day on the recreation float, near the Mars's mooring point, so got to see all 8 flying boats, at one time or another.

I'm glad you enjoyed these pics. how cool that you saw these beautiful planes so long ago. It was quite a sight to see those 4 engines come to life and this big seaplane take off

Hm?? All eight boats? I must assume that you mean the Clippers, as there were only five Mars built. Aaaand I don't think the Mars ever flew commercially, other than water bombers. That, of course, doesn't mean that I don't envy your contact with these aircraft! I saw the last flight of a Stranraer, and there is no way I could or would ever exchange that experience.

I am fascinated by flying boats; float planes, not so much. I have the Cleveland plans and templates for the Martin M130 Clipper, and just recently was given enough balsa to start construction. I do believe that the plan was to generate a non-flying (display) model, but I can't do that. The balsa was free, but now I'm faced with powering the thing! I am looking at direct drive 600s and commensurate controllers and batteries, but I think they will cost more than most cars that I have bought in my life...

Production List
As mentioned before, one prototype and six production aircraft of the Martin Mars have been built. The histories of these seven aircraft have been summarized in this production list:

C/n Type Date Reg Owner/operator Name Remark
877 XPB2M-1 05-Nov-1941 mfd 1520 Glenn L. Martin Co. Old Lady Officially launched into Dark Head Creek, Middle River, MD on 05-Nov-1941.
During taxi tests at the Middle River, MD plant on 05-Dec-1941 the propeller of engine #3 threw a blade, which caused an engine fire and severely damaged the aircraft. Repairs took more than 6 months. First flight 03-Jul-1942.
XPB2M-1R 1942 cvd 1520 Glenn L. Martin Co. Old Lady Converted for transport role, gun turrets and bombing equipment removed.
27-Nov-1943 del 1520 United States Navy Old Lady Delivered to VR-8 at Patuxent River, MD.
Mar-1945 wfu 1520 United States Navy Old Lady Withdrawn from service at Alameda, CA Mar-1945.
Returned to Martin Co. for JRM-1 crew training, arrived at Middle River, MD Apr-1945.
Transferred to NATC Patuxent River, MD as a maintenance trainer until 1949.
Later broken up, presumably at Patuxent River, MD.

9263 JRM-1 27-Jul-1945 del 76819 United States Navy Hawaii Mars
05-Aug-1945 w/o 76819 United States Navy Hawaii Mars A failure of the vertical stabilizer leading edge caused a severe porpoising motion on landing at Chesapeake Bay, Baltimore, MD. The aircraft went out of control and sank.

9264 JRM-1 26-Jun-1946 del 76820 United States Navy Philippine Mars
JRM-3 cvd 76820 United States Navy Philippine Mars Wfu 1956, stored NAS Alameda, CA.
1959 bt Mars Metals Co. Philippine Mars
05-Sep-1959 bt CF-LYK FIFT Philippine Mars Converted to airtanker configuration in 1962.
1976 rr C-FLYK FIFT Philippine Mars
04-Jul-2001 ren C-FLYK Flying Tankers Inc. Philippine Mars Offered for sale 10-Nov-2006.
01-May-2007 bt C-FLYK Coulson Flying Tankers Philippine Mars

9265 JRM-1 28-Feb-1946 del 76821 United States Navy Marianas Mars
JRM-3 cvd 76821 United States Navy Marianas Mars Wfu 22-Aug-1956, stored NAS Alameda, CA.
1959 bt Mars Metals Co. Marianas Mars
08-Aug-1959 bt CF-LYJ FIFT Marianas Mars Converted to airtanker, into service Spring 1960.
23-Jun-1961 w/o CF-LYJ FIFT Marianas Mars Crashed into Mount Moriarty near Nanaimo, BC during a regular drop run. Some reports suggest a failure in the water drop mechanism, which left the aircraft too heavy to climb quickly enough to avoid the mountain. However, no definite cause for the accident has officially been documented.

9266 JRM-1 Feb-1946 del 76822 United States Navy Marshall Mars
JRM-3 cvd 76822 United States Navy Marshall Mars
05-Apr-1950 w/o 76822 United States Navy Marshall Mars Suffered in-flight engine fire and force-landed in Ke'ehi Lagoon, Oahu, HI. The fire continued to spread and when it reached the fuel tanks the aircraft exploded and subsequently sank.

9267 JRM-1 23-Apr-1946 del 76823 United States Navy Hawaii Mars
JRM-3 cvd 76823 United States Navy Hawaii Mars Wfu 1956, stored NAS Alameda, CA.
1959 bt Mars Metals Co. Hawaii Mars
12-Sep-1959 bt CF-LYL FIFT Hawaii Mars Converted to airtanker configuration in 1964.
1976 rr C-FLYL FIFT Hawaii Mars
04-Jul-2001 ren C-FLYL Flying Tankers Inc. Hawaii Mars Offered for sale 10-Nov-2006.
01-May-2007 bt C-FLYL Coulson Flying Tankers Hawaii Mars

9268 JRM-2 10-May-1948 del 76824 United States Navy Caroline Mars Wfu 1956, stored NAS Alameda, CA.
1959 bt Mars Metals Co. Caroline Mars
27-Aug-1959 bt CF-LYM FIFT Caroline Mars Converted to airtanker configuration in 1961.
12-Oct-1962 w/o CF-LYM FIFT Caroline Mars Aircraft was parked on its beaching gear at Victoria International Airport, Sidney, B.C. for maintenance with Fairey Aviation of Canada, when its tie-down lines snapped during typhoon "Frieda". The beaching gear collapsed, and the aircraft was blown across the tarmac for some distance until it ran into a highway shoulder. It was considered damaged beyond repair and was broken up for spares.



this production list is from old wings web site

there are some martin mars vids on youtube

My hands are steady enough to be the envy of surgeons half my age, but the brain, I'm not so sure! No idea why I said 8 boats. Thanks for the history, anyway.
Despite documenation that says to the contrary, I know I saw a Martin M-130, parked on beaching gear, with the U.S. flag on the side, at Alameda, in 1948. (I remember saying to the other Scouts, "Hey look, there's the China Clipper!").
All the Mars flying boats I saw in those days were very much in the U.S. Navy, with overall "Deep-sea" blue finish, and Stars & Bars. Although the Pacific War had been over for 3 years, there was still a lot of hauling to do!

Originally Posted by TLyttle

Hm?? All eight boats? I must assume that you mean the Clippers, as there were only five Mars built. Aaaand I don't think the Mars ever flew commercially, other than water bombers. That, of course, doesn't mean that I don't envy your contact with these aircraft! I saw the last flight of a Stranraer, and there is no way I could or would ever exchange that experience.

I am fascinated by flying boats; float planes, not so much. I have the Cleveland plans and templates for the Martin M130 Clipper, and just recently was given enough balsa to start construction. I do believe that the plan was to generate a non-flying (display) model, but I can't do that. The balsa was free, but now I'm faced with powering the thing! I am looking at direct drive 600s and commensurate controllers and batteries, but I think they will cost more than most cars that I have bought in my life...

Hi mate how you doing DD S600s are going to be heavy and power hungry and will go off pretty quick..... better to go with a geared set up ... take a look at I van Pettigrew's more recent offerings S480s or geared buggies or even S550/600s - whats the size of the model?

If they are brushed motors you can run 4 geared brushed motors off one HD controller or a pair............ thats not going to break the bank or cause headaches.

Doing well for an old blighter, thanks for asking!

The Cleveland plan is 8' span, and Scale. That means that I have very limited room for props, probably 9" max, 3-bladers for scale effect. Gearing would be fine for larger props, but I considered a small reduction to use the most efficient motors I can find! It doesn't matter much what I do, this will not be a simple project, and power/weight/drag is going to be a real balancing act.

Try as I might, I cannot pass up this challenge. If it works, it will be my very best achievement in my 60+ years of model building and flying...

Here's a few more pics

I went back out to Lake Elsinore today to try to get some pics of the martin mars taking off from the other side of the lake. For some reason she did not fly today. I went to the other side of the lake, because the plane takes off about 200 yards off that shore line. spent about 4 hours waiting but no luck. I might try tomorrow....

Nice pictures!

Originally Posted by Kmot

Nice pictures!

thank you