Alerts Sign-up
One of the enduring mysteries of the summer aviation news cycle was how the world's largest flying boat would reach one of the country's most land-locked museums. The team responsible for maintaining the A-26K "Special Kay" announced on Facebook that the massive Philippine Mars, which lacks landing gear, will be flown from its current base on Sproat Lake on Canada's Vancouver Island to Lake Roosevelt, Arizona's largest body of water. From there, it will be dismantled and trucked 150 miles to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, where it will join about 400 other historically significant aircraft.
A total of seven Mars aircraft were built for the Navy, primarily used for long-range cargo service to Hawaii. The four surviving airframes were retired in the 1950s and sold to a consortium of British Columbia forest companies who converted them into self-loading waterbombers. One was lost in a fire, another in a crash, and Coulson Air Tankers of Port Alberni purchased the last two. The Philippine Mars' sister ship, Hawaii Mars, fought its last wildfire in 2015.
Coulson sought buyers for years before finally donating both aircraft to museums earlier this year. Hawaii Mars was flown to its new home at the B.C. Aviation Museum in Victoria last month. Given Victoria International Airport's ocean proximity, moving the airplane up a seaplane launch ramp to its final location was relatively straightforward. Details regarding the more complex move of Philippine Mars to Pima are expected in coming months.
