The Philippine Mars is destined to leave Vancouver Island for the last time on Wednesday, after decades of service in firefighting. (Peter Killin, CFLYK & CFLYL pilot)

By Alex Rawnsley

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Massive Philippine Mars waterbomber preparing for final Island departure

Dec 11, 2024 | 5:27 AM

UPDATE — Wednesday’s flight was forced back to Port Alberni soon after takeoff.

The Mars was over Nanaimo when oil pressure issues in an engine led to crew deciding to circle back to Port Alberni and attempt the trip down the West Coast on another day.

EARLIER — NANAIMO — Just over four months after the Hawaii Mars made an emotional final flight down Vancouver Island, the Philippine Mars is preparing for her last mission.

Crew from Coulson Aviation have worked extensively over recent weeks and months to make the plane, originally built in the 1940’s, airworthy once more after being grounded since its last firefighting mission in 2012.

Company president Wayne Coulson said it’s been a long road ahead of the final flight, tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 11.

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“We’ve been trying since about the middle of November where we thought we could get her moved but it’s been in and out of the water multiple times, we’ve got one engine swapped on the aircraft since we’ve been dialing it in. Lots of tweaks because it’s been a long time but everybody seems confident and ready to go.”

The plane did several laps around the Port Alberni area on Monday, Dec. 9 and Tuesday, Dec. 10.

A final route and timing on Wednesady haven’t been announced, but, weather dependant, the plane will leave Sprout Lake near Port Alberni and fly down the Vancouver Island eastern coast.

Pilots will then navigate over Washington state and Oregon before landing in San Francisco Bay.

Coulson said California holds a special place in the aircraft’s history.

“That’s where it operated from, out of San Francisco and then down to San Diego so we’re going to make stops…which is where it operated from in the 1940’s, so everybody gets to say goodbye to it.”

The final destination for the plane is an undisclosed lake in Arizona over the Dec. 13-14 weekend.

The plane will be then transported over land to the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tuscon.

“We’ve got a team there and they’ll pull it out of the water, off come the wings, off come the tail and it’s loaded onto flatbeds and the fusilage will get loaded onto its own cradle and trucked 100-plus miles to Pima.”

Coulson said the change in ownership of the plane was “part sale, part donation”.

Tens of thousands of people gathered along the coastline in August to watch low fly-bys of the legendary Hawaii Mars.

It is currently an open exhibit at the B.C. Aviation Museum in Saanich.

–with files from David Wiwchar, 93.3 The Peak

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