Posted on 12/16/2004 6:57:45 AM PST by pabianice
HONOLULU, HAWAII — Researchers cataloging underwater debris around Pearl Harbor have made a giant discovery — the wreckage of one of the largest aircraft ever built. A Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory submersible found the main body of the Marshall Mars, a Navy seaplane that had a 200-foot wingspan and sank following an engine fire in 1950.
The Mars aircraft series was built to move cargo, primarily between California and Hawaii. The Mars Marshall once carried more than 308 people aloft, a record at the time.
Pieces of the Mars Marshall were first found in August when the nose and keel were found, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Tuesday.
The research lab’s senior pilot Terry Kerby returned to the wreckage last Thursday. He and others found the rest of the seaplane while searching around a sunken Japanese midget submarine.
“Submerged historic wreck sites are like time capsules from our maritime past,” said Hans Van Tilburg, a NOAA National Marine Sanctuary maritime archaeologist.
Did Howard Hughes build that?
Isnt that the Spruce Goose going up the Columbia on its way to Evergreen museum?
The Mars was built by the Martin Aircraft Company in Baltimore (well east of Baltimore), MD.
No, but it looks like it may have been built using the "Sruce Goose" that Howard built as a model!
Thanks, I just realized my error; similar but the engines give it away
This is one of four surviving Mars Mariners kept on Vancouver Island on Sprague Lake. They are now fire bombers.
http://bobeff.smugmug.com/photos/487019-M-1.jpg
It is the Martin Mars, built by the Glenn L. Martin Co., in Baltimore.
That's one big aircraft. Must have took forever to get that thing airborne.
To the best of ny Knowledge there are only two of the Mars left and they are owned by a Canadian timber company.
Link here...http://www.martinmars.com/mars.html
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
That is great news!
I thought that the planes that had been cutup for scrap!
I'm glad to see these "Marvelous Monsters from Martin" are still flying!
You have made my day!
* US Navy interest in a very large flying boat, or "flying dreadnought", to be used for long-range ocean patrol, began in 1935, and resulted in a contract awarded to Martin on 23 August 1938. The new aircraft was designated the "XPB2M-1 Mars". The XPB2M-1 was rolled out from the hangar at Martin's Middle River, Maryland, plant in September 1941.
The "Old Lady", as it would come to be known, was a monster, something along the lines of a scaled-up Mariner with a wingspan of 61 meters (200 feet), a length of 36 meters (117 feet), and an empty weight of 34.3 tonnes (75,573 pounds). The aircraft was powered by four Wright 18-cylinder R-3350-18 Duplex Cyclone radial engines, each providing 1,492 kW (2,000 HP), driving three-bladed Schwarz wooden propellers with a diameter of 5.18 meters (17 feet).
The XPB2M-1 was unarmed, but had provisions for tail and nose turrets, a retractable top turret, and flexible gun positions on each side of the rear fuselage and under the rear hull. Each turret or gun position would mount a single 7.62 millimeter (0.30 caliber) Browning machine gun. The aircraft had a bombbay in the fuselage, with the doors in the wingroots.
The Old Lady nearly came to grief during tests on 5 December 1941, when one of the engines caught fire. Fortunately, the engine burned off its mounts and fell into the water, preventing the destruction of the entire aircraft.
The Old Lady made its first flight on 23 June 1942 (some sources claim 3 July 1942), after the engines had been replaced with uprated Duplex Cyclones with 1,640 kW (2,200 HP) each and driving three-bladed Hamilton Standard propellers with a diameter of 5 meters (16.5 feet).
Martin continued test flights on the aircraft until November 1943, when the Old Lady was passed on to the Navy. By this time the Navy had decided that big lumbering easy-kill patrol bombers were not such a good idea after all, and the flying boat was converted to a cargo aircraft before it was handed over. The provisions for turrets and guns, bomb bays, and armor plate were removed, cargo-loading hatches and cargo-loading equipment were installed, and the decking was reinforced. The modified aircraft given the designation "XPB2M-1R".
The XPB2M-1R operated in a training role out of the Naval Air Station (NAS) at Patuxent River, Maryland, until January 1944, when it was transferred to the Naval Air Station at Almeda, California. It made 78 round trips between San Francisco, and Honolulu until being retired in March 1945. The Old Lady was then overhauled and used by Martin for training.
* The Navy was pleased enough with the Old Lady in its transport configuration that they decided to order 20 of a purpose-built transport version for the specific purpose of proving airlift services between Alameda and Honolulu. The new version was given the designation "JRM-1".
The first JRM-1, named the "Hawaii Mars", was completed in June 1945. The Hawaii Mars had the same wing and float structure as the Old Lady, but was otherwise extensively redesigned. The powerplants were upgraded to 1,790 kW (2,400 HP) R-3350-8 engines; the twin-tail was replaced by a tall single vertical tail; the fuselage was extended by 1.82 meters (6 feet); large cargo doors with electric hoists were installed under the wings with smaller cargo doors placed farther aft; and the internal layout was optimized for cargo and transport operations, with fewer internal bulkheads.
The JRM-1's maximum cargo capacity was almost 16 tonnes (35,000 pounds). The aircraft could be configured to carry 133 troops, or 84 litters (with 25 seats) for the medical evacuation ("medevac") role, on its two decks. Unfortunately, the Hawaii Mars was lost in an accident in Chesapeake Bay on 5 August 1945.
A few days later the war was over, and the Navy decided they didn't need 20 JRM-1's after all. Five more Mars flying boats were completed instead: the "Philippine Mars", the "Marianas Mars", the "Marshall Mars", a second "Hawaii Mars", and the single "JRM-2 Caroline Mars", delivered in July 1947 and equipped with 2,238 kW (3,000 HP) Pratt & Whitney R-4360-4T 28 cylinder four-row "corncob" radial engines.
The Marshall Mars was lost on 5 May 1950, off Diamond Head in Hawaii. One of her engines caught fire and though the pilot put her down on the water and a rescue crew on a boat tried to help, the fire spread and the aircraft destroyed itself in a spectacular explosion. Fortunately there were no serious injuries in the incident.
All the four surviving aircraft were upgraded to the "JRM-3" standard by fitting them with Wright R-3350-24WA 28-cylinder engines, with 2,238 kW (3,000 HP) each, and reversible props on the inner pair of engines. The JMR-3s operated mostly on the San-Francisco-Honolulu run, and set a number of records for freight hauling. The Navy was very happy with them, finding them reliable and economical to operate.
The "Big Four" were retired in 1956. After being parked at NAS Almeda for three years, they were finally sold for scrap in 1959. However, that wasn't the end of the story.
MARS WATER BOMBERS
* In the late 1950s, the Canadian Pacific-coast province of British Columbia was badly hit by a series of forest fires, and in 1958 the lumber companies met to discuss what to do in response. One of the recommendations was to make greater use of "water bombers" -- aircraft converted to dump water on fires.
Unfortunately, existing aircraft types used as water bombers, such as Beavers, Otters, Avengers and so on, couldn't carry enough water to really dowse a fire. A water-bomber pilot named Dan McIvor suggested that using surplus flying boats would give the fire-fighters the clout they needed. However, big flying boats were a thing of the past and most of them had been scrapped.
In the spring of 1959, McIvor learned that the US Navy intended to sell its huge Mars flying boats for scrap. McIvor knew that the Mars would be the best water bomber of all the aircraft he had considered, and called the Navy immediately.
The bids had been closed, but the Navy gave McIvor the name of the winning bidder. McIvor called them and arranged to buy the four aircraft for a slight markup over their bid, paying the remarkably cheap sum of $100,000 US for all four. McIvor was apparently quite an energetic guy, as he then managed not only to acquire spare engines and the entire Navy parts stock and documentation archive for the archive for a small sum.
The four JRMs were flown to British Columbia during August and September 1959. The Caroline Mars was pressed into service for training, while the Marianas Mars was being converted into a water bomber by Fairey Aviation. All extraneous gear was stripped out, a single 22,700 liter (6,000 US gallon) fiberglassed-plywood tank was installed, and two retractable scoops were built into the hull. New radio equipment and a spiffy red-and-white paint scheme completed the upgrade.
The Marianas Mars began its service in spring 1960. Unfortunately, McIvor ended up being grounded because of his eyesight, and his replacements weren't nearly as capable. On 23 June 1960, a pilot named Richman failed to heed the recommendations of an observer on a spotter aircraft and cartwheeled the Marianas Mars through the treetops, killing himself and the other three crewmen.
As a result, the conversion of the Caroline Mars to a water bomber was accelerated. In 1962 McIvor, who had got his license back on appeal, demonstrated the wisdom of his selection of the Mars flying boats by putting out a serious fire with the Caroline Mars before ground crews even managed to get to the scene. Unfortunately, the Caroline Mars was completely wrecked by a storm that winter.
That left the Philippine Mars and the Hawaii Mars. Fairey Aviation immediately proceeded to convert them to water bombers as they had the other two aircraft. They also added a new secondary tank to contain "Gelgard", a thickening agent that was added to the water to make it viscous and not run off so quickly. The two water bombers went into service during the fire season in 1963, and at last notice remain in service, operating off Sproat Lake in British Columbia.
I had heard that Flying Tankers was retiring the two remainig MArtin Mars due to age buit a quick perusal of the web page did not say anything about retirement.
FWIW IIRC Flying Tankers or at least the originators of Flying Tankers picked up the 4 Mars at an auction in the early 1960's for the ungodly sum of about $50,00. Included in the sum was 4 Mars aircraft, a number of spare parts(like a small wharehouse) and most importantly several file cabinets full of the original drawings. One of the aircraft was relegated to spare parts duty to support the three flying Mars. The third Mars was destroyed in a fire while moored leaving the two remaing Mars to fly on as air attack tankers.
the Mars have a capability to carry 60,000lbs of water.
Regards
alfa6 :>}
I shoulda known I'd find you here. LOL
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