Martin Mars Damaged at Oshkosh

[rjtjrt]

Martin Mars reported to have been holed in emergency water landing at Lake Winnebago during Oshkosh flight.
Struck submerged something and holed. Fire Department pumps controlling and divers assessing hole.


Bomber damaged in emergency landing on lake (http://www.thenorthwestern.com/story/news/local/oshkosh/airventure/2016/07/30/water-bomber-makes-emergency-landing-lake/87778216/)

[treadigraph]

Damn shame, hope it's easily repairable... :{

[Newforest2]

Could be a Winnebago whale, cousin of Nessie! Hope the damage is minor.

[treadigraph]

According to Warbird Info Exchange it left Oshkosh this morning, heading back to Sproat Lake. :ok:

[Stanwell]

Good news.
I haven't heard what it was they hit, but one can encounter some nasty 'floaters' that, due to their
density, lurk only an inch or so below the surface.
Most inconvenient.

[treadigraph]

I did wonder if that Chinese Cessna 208 floatplane that hit a bridge on take off recently had hit something with a float...

[maxred]

Unread 2nd Aug 2016, 21:52 #5 (permalink)
Stanwell

I haven't heard what it was they hit, but one can encounter some nasty 'floaters' that, due to their
density, lurk only an inch or so below the surface.
Most inconvenient.

Something akin to Mrs Maxreds toilet habits. Had she been there, it may have taken the Mars out completely.....

[treadigraph]

Too many Mars can cause that particular scenario with me...

[megan]

Too many Mars can cause that particular scenario with me...Particularly if deep fried

Hitting submerged objects, not good

3pWoecl1M8s

[twochai]

I have many hours on flying boats and I doubt the Dornier accident was caused by hitting a submerged object.

The angle of approach and the angle of attack (gamma and alpha) were too low, the landing speed was too high and the keel of the hull was barely penetrating the surface.

[megan]

I doubt the Dornier accident was caused by hitting a submerged objectDon't think the hole was made by the pilot stamping his foot. They were planning on a touch and go when they hit something, which would explain your last sentence.

https://www.austrianwings.info/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Dornier-Do-24-Landeunfall-18072015-Besch%C3%A4digung-Foto-Christian-Hetzenauer.jpg

[Rossian]

.....cover it over with Speedtape and she'll be good to go. I saw a Norwegian Albatross crew do that after hitting an ice bank at Keflavik. "Not due a water landing for another 10 months - OK". Yeah, right.

The Ancient Mariner

[FerrisBueller]

Glad the Mars lives to fly another day! Stunning aircraft, pity its the only one!

[India Four Two]

Ferris,

You should take a "day-off" and visit Sproat Lake. ;)

There are two. Here's a picture I took last year. The second Mars has been repainted in Navy colours, in anticipation of delivery to a museum.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/india42/IMG_3056_zpsfsbxnykc.jpg

[evansb]

Only two airworthy Mars in Canada. The Hawaii Mars and the Philippine Mars.
The Hawaii Mars was damaged at Oshkosh..

Civilian use:
In 1959, the remaining Mars aircraft were to be sold for scrap, but a Canadian company, Forest Industries Flying Tankers (FIFT), was formed and bid for the four aircraft and a large spares inventory. The company represented a consortium of British Columbia forest companies, and the bid was accepted and the sale completed in December 1959. The four aircraft were flown to Fairey Aviation at Victoria, British Columbia, for conversion into water bombers. The conversion involved the installation of a tank in the cargo bay and retractable pick-up scoops to allow uploading of water while the aircraft was taxiing. The scoops allowed 30 tons of water to be taken on board in 22 seconds. Later some of the hull fuel tanks were replaced with water tanks.

The Marianas Mars crashed near Northwest Bay, British Columbia, on 23 June 1961 during firefighting operations; all four crew members were lost. Just over a year later, on 12 October 1962, the Caroline Mars was damaged beyond repair by Typhoon Freda while parked onshore. The Hawaii Mars and Philippine Mars had their conversion into water bombers advanced and entered service in 1963. They appeared at local airshows, demonstrating their water-dropping ability. Flying Tankers Inc. flew the water bombers to hot spots around the province when a need developed, such as in August 2003, when a large forest fire threatened the outskirts of Kelowna, British Columbia.

On 10 November 2006, TimberWest Forest Ltd. announced they were looking for buyers of the Mars. A condition of sale was that the purchaser would have to donate one plane back to Port Alberni when they were retired, as a historic attraction. The Maryland Aviation Museum and British Columbia Aviation Council initiated a joint effort to preserve the aircraft, one for display in Maryland and the other at the current location in Canada. On 13 April 2007, TimberWest announced the sale of both aircraft to Coulson Forest Products, a local forestry company in Port Alberni, British Columbia. The two surviving tankers are presently operated by Coulson Flying Tankers and are based and maintained at Sproat Lake near Port Alberni. On 25 October 2007, the Hawaii Mars ("Redtail") arrived at Lake Elsinore in southern California, on a private contract, to assist with firefighting efforts at the California wildfires of October 2007. Meanwhile, the Philippine Mars had been undergoing "extensive maintenance and renovation" and was expected to be ready to fly again by 2010. As of 13 August 2009, the Hawaii Mars was in service fighting the La Brea fire east of Santa Maria in Southern California.


The interior of Philippine Mars, August 2008. The large tanks hold Fire retardant, that is mixed with the water load.
The aircraft can carry 7,200 U.S. gallons (27,276 litres) of water and each drop can cover an area of up to 4 acres (1.6 hectares). The aircraft can also carry up to 600 U.S. gallons (2,270 litres) of foam concentrate for gelling the load drop. They are mainly used to fight fires along the coast of British Columbia and sometimes in the interior. As of July 29, 2010, the Martin Mars was being used to fight the Mason Lake/Bonaparte Lake fire north of Kamloops, B.C.

On 23 August 2012, the Coulson Group announced that the Philippine Mars, due to its lack of use for five years, would be retired and flown to the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida to become a static exhibit. The aircraft was repainted to its original U.S. Navy colors and was to have been delivered to the museum in November 2012. After many delays, the trade deal of transferring the aircraft to the museum was put on hold by the navy in June 2016, pending the outcome of the 2016 US Presidential election.

On 10 May 2013, the B.C. provincial government announced that the Hawaii Mars would no longer be placed on contract after the 2013 season, due to not having been used to fight any B.C. fires for two years and the operation of newer and more versatile aircraft by the Coulson group including a Lockheed C-130 Hercules converted to firefighting use. Although Coulson stated that the Hawaii Mars has been under numerous recent upgrades to make it safer and more reliable, no buyers have come forward to purchase the aircraft. Coulson also cautioned against any plans to open the aircraft as a tourist attraction because of the 2013 closure of the Flying Tankers Bomber Base Museum from poor attendance.

In May 2015, the Hawaii Mars received a small contract to be used briefly for training Chinese pilots. This was done using the Martin Mars to evaluate against civil certification regulations by The International Test Pilot School, on how to handle such a large amphibious aircraft. These pilots will be involved with the Chinese state owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China as they get ready to launch their forthcoming AVIC TA-600 airplane. Subsequently, in the summer of 2015, the airplane was put back in service after public outcry, being awarded a 30-day contract from the BC Government to help with a particularly bad fire season.

The Hawaii Mars was scheduled to take part in EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2016 in hopes of being sold or leased to a new home or business. According to the Smithsonian Channel episode of Mighty Planes Martin Mars, only one Martin Mars is now flying.

[Stanwell]

evansb.
Any news on the future of Philippine Mars?
With regard to its transfer, the performance of the US Navy Museum's directorship had been described as
'somewhat less than impressive'.
The poor girl is "All dressed up with nowhere to go".

[evansb]

As of today, no good news to report regarding the disposition of the "Naval" Martin Mars..