Phillipine Mars to fly south
Less than a month after announcing the upcoming departure of Hawaii Mars to the BC Aviation Museum in Victoria, Coulson Aviation announced yesterday that Phillipine Mars will also be leaving the Alberni Valley, bound for the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson Arizona.
Wayne Coulson said it’s a fitting tribute that the last two Martin Mars flying boats will become cornerstones of two world-class aviation museums.
“It’s been a long hard fight to find your good quality museums, like the BC Aviation Museum, and the Pima Air Museum that will take and embrace these aircraft and protect them for generations,” he said. “We’re really pleased that we were able to find some people and some organizations with great quality people to look after these aircraft for us.”
Similar to the famous red and white Hawaii Mars, the recently repainted navy blue Philippine Mars will have to be made flightworthy before it can travel to Tucson.