I have fond memories from my childhood of my grandfather's PBY Catalina that he used to give flying tours of southern Florida and surrounding islands. I often went with him and made coffee and tea for the passengers in the little galley on board and spent the night in the crew's quarters quite often during my summer break from school.
What a fabulous documentry, these giants of the sky still performing well and doing an unreplaceable job. Thank you for sharing this wonderful story of these magnificent aircraft.
Fine tale, Jeremy...thanx !! I grew up in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, so I saw the regular service of flying boats on Sydney Harbor, based at the waterside suburb of Rose Bay.
My father was a RAF radio engineer on Catalina’s based in the Maldives during WW2. He was 1 of 6 on an island for 5yrs. It was service and refuelling station. They were one of the last service personnel to be returned home after a mix up (9 months!) thinking they’d already been picked up, he never forgot his time on the FB’s.
Thank you for posting this great video. I grew up and pass by Martin State Airport twice a day, everyday while living there most of my life. Nothing like watching the planes at night with the runway all lite up with blue & green runway lights. We had these big birds flying over us everyday. Too cool as I look back 52 years ago! Always made me smile as I would look up to see them!
I was guessing that a lot of this was done/filmed at Martin State! When I was stationed at Phillips Army Airfield at Aberdeen, MD I flew past and around there on almost a daily basis, not to mention that I also raced sailboats out of the Middle River area!
I got pretty recently amazed by this type of aircrafts, after visiting a Flying Boats Museum here in town Foynes in Republic Of Ireland. Incredible place with incredible history, worth of seeing. About the documentary itself... One of a kind. Thanks for sharing. Hello from Tralee in ROI to all passionates!
Born in 1952 in Wisconsin and later to live in Rockford, Illinois, by 1962 the EAA became my doorway to the wealth of history, beauty and mystery airplanes offered. Later to attend college in Oshkosh, Wisconsin for a couple more years I was reunited with the fantastic wealth of aviation history the EAA offered. The joy and happiness I experienced in the decade of exposure to such men as Bob Hoover, the Cole Brothers, as well as the veteran pilots of WWII and Korea was a gift I could never have imagined receiving. Having no relatives who flew and being comparatively poor it was a doorway to such a wealth of history and accomplishment it was beyond measure. I am so thankful for the value of these blessings, meeting the men who served in the military, who built aircraft, and who offered their children the world of aviation that to watch this video and see an element of aviation that regardless of my exposure to a wealth of aviation knowledge is unique and a pure delight! I find it laughable to see the complaints and hostility of others in earlier comments regarding something so miniscule as the proper labeling of the video. Come on folks, this is a gift we're all fortunate to see. Given the wealth of idiocy now employed in labeling videos we are all blessed by even finding this one. I wish you all could find the joy I have watching this because as we all know it's time has passed as our's will soon enough.
DOCUMENTÁRIO MARAVILHOSO !!! SENSACIONAL !!! MUITO BEM PRODUZIDO !!! NOS DEIXA EMOCIONADOS PELAS SITUAÇÕES ABORDADAS E PELAS AERONAVES APRESENTADAS !!! MUITO BOM !!! PARABÉNS PELA POSTAGEM !!!!
Great Historic video. Paved the way for modern Airliners. Traveling over the Worlds Vast Oceans, worldwide. Contributed to the War effort, and some still to this day,work as Fire Fighters Amazing.
During WWII my father, a Navy Pharmacist's Mate (3), was at the Oakland Naval Hospital in California. The Martin Mars seaplanes were used to carry the worst of the wounded from places like Iwo Jima home to America. The Mars seaplanes landed on San Francisco Bay and docked at the Alameda Naval Air Station. My father met the seaplane with his "fleet" of six $1800 Packard ambulances, each of which could carry 4 stretcher cases. Dad would go aboard the seaplane and talk to the nurse who traveled with the wounded. He would learn who the "worst of the worst" were and they would go in the ambulance with the softest springs. The ambulances would then crawl six miles up to the hospital, sometimes as slow as ten miles an hour (to avoid jostling the patients). All this he described in letters home to my mother (I wasn't born yet), who fortunately saved everything.
+Jeremy Nichols my father did 30 months in the pacific as captain of a ship. He was only 23. But they needed people, he got the job, and was supposed to shoot down kamikazes, which he and his crew did. HE DIDN'T LIKE IT.
+EnergeticWaves My mother's baby brother was a seaman on a WWII sub chaser, a relatively small ship used for protecting mine sweepers and cable-laying ships and such. I have one of his letters to my father. It didn't sound like much fun, bouncing around in the Pacific with little time for relaxation and no place to go even if you did have the time. Compared to him my father had a soft berth with time off to go to baseball games in San Francisco.
Nice to see this video . My dad built the MARS prototype beofre being drafted into the Navy for WW2. Martin was big into flying boats buliding, the M-130, PBM Mariner, Mars, P5M Merlin, and the magnificent P6M Seamaster, jet-powered Mach 2 plus flying boat. They were all built in Middle River, launching into Frog Mortar Creek. They were incredible machines !
As a kid being born and raised in Vancouver BC Canada, I remember back in the early 70s Howard Hughes would come to and stay in Vancouver BC, Howard would rent the top 2 floors of the Bayshore Inn Hotel which was down by Stanly park. Howard arrived with an entourage of 15 and rented the 19th and 20th floors of the Bayshore tower. Hughes stayed on the top floor, his staff occupied 24 rooms on the floor below. He had little to no contact with Bayshore employees, eating food prepared by his own chef. By this time Howard was an eccentric and a recluse. After years of mental and physical decline, Howard died of kidney failure in 1976, at the age of 70 en route via air from Mexico to Houston, Texas, U.S. .
Wow, a blast from the past. I remember seeing the Princess flying as a schoolboy in the 50's. Nice clip of one flying past the Needless on the Isle of Wight where I was living.
As boy, I was lucky to be shown over both the full size mock-up and the prototype Princess flying boat. My father worked at Saunders Roe. In later years I became acquainted with her flight engineer who told me of a problem they had during many flight tests: The coupled engines had gear boxes which thermometers showed alarming over heating. The crew were at their wits end but they eventually solved their anxiety. They removed the thermometers!
A beautiful and memorable video ! My father , Mitchell Maichak served willfully and honorably in WW 2 in the U. S. Navy as a radio and radar man aboard a Consolidated PBY 5 Catalina with unit VPB 99 , and aboard a Martin PBM 5 Mariner with unit VPB 201 . He made two or three Trans Atlantic trips escorting supply and transport ships to help defend against Nazi U boats . Dad has been passed ten years now . I still remember wartime remembrances of him and my uncles at family gatherings . Very frightening , yet very inspiring ! When I was old enough , I joined the U. S. ARMY ( stateside and S. E. Asia ) . Their memories made me want to take my chances on dry land ! I offer a sincere and heartfelt salute to all who have served and defended our nation . I love you forever , Dad !
I remember in the late '50's, driving by Elk Lake near Victoria B.C. and seeing the three Mars bombers. They always looked sinister in their grey paint and I don't know why they were there ( was a kid) but they were very impressive, floating there in the early morning fog. Now there's only one left, which they keep up at Sproat Lake near Port Alberni. Great documentary, I really enjoyed it.
These are the most beautiful air crafts ever! Their shapes, design, size, functionality and diversity are simply marvelous. Somethings should be replicated just for their simplicity and beauty. Now is the time to do so, just because...!
@@csventura6607they are not. The BC government stopped giving contracts to the now owner of the planes (Mr. coulson) so he retired them and attempted to return one back to the US in her original colours. The BC government blocked that, so now they sit on land at Sproat lake docile
Around 1987 my ex and I were taken for a tour of the Mars Bombers on Sproat lake. We were take on a interior tour by my friend Bryan who is a helicopter mechanic but was also tasked with maintaining the Mars. It was an amazing experience to see these giant airships that carried what seemed a tiny but long water tank in the bottom, and the rest of the interior basically empty. Then years later while living on my sailboat moored in Fanny bay The bombers flew past just above my masthead before skimming & scooping up seawater for a fire up in the Cumberland area. This lasted for 2 full days of scooping water every 20 minutes. That's a lot of water being moved and some interesting memories.
12 years old in a 10 foot rowboat in Saanich Inlet , and this Martin Mars comes flying around the point @ 200 feet ! Over 60 years ago and I can see it like yesterday , a true WOW life moment !
I remember these birds as I was a kid in the SF area. Subsequently, I became an Aircraft Commander on Douglas C-124 Globemaster II transports in MATS - the successor to NATS (going on to have a 25 year career as pilot for Pan Am). I still must look up when hearing an aircraft, but those old radial recips really get me excited.
I heard loud radial aircraft engines earlier this year above me, and being a USAF vet myself I, as always, looked up (like you) at a different sounding plane and saw a B-17 bomber flying over Knoxville, TN! What was especially interesting was that I was next to a 92 year old woman whom I asked if she recognized that plane from her youth. Smiling, she said she surely did.
That was just a Marvelous upload! Good picture quality and sound level. Very informative and interesting. I certainly hope that someone has dollars and sense enough to make more of these aircraft for this purpose. I know there are smaller flying boats doing this work, but those can't carry loads large enough to assure success every time.
A bit before my time so I never got to fly on one of those "flying boats" (although I've been in small seaplanes with pontoons in Alaska) but I am a pilot so I really enjoyed your video of these old-time classics! Thank you. I saw a China Clipper once, but I'd really like to see inside of one of those old ones. And I wonder how they anchored those down with ropes in port. Those Mars are huge! I saw the Spruce Goose in Long Beach the year we stayed overnight on the Queen Mary, (before it left for the museum in Oregon) -- that Howard Hughes was quite a man -- that plane was huge! OF COURSE he got that plane in the air, even if only for a few seconds -- there was no way he wouldn't when they said it couldn't fly! I wonder how they got it up to Oregon, I know they crated the props, guess I'll have to look that up.
Thanks for posting this vid. I've seen the Mars bombers over Vancouver Island and they are really impressive to see flying around. You can hear them coming for miles.
Excellent factual analysis, I had long been under the mis impression also regarding the Lancaster's bomb load, it's something you often see quoted and claimed. Thanks well done.
Just finished my second and satisfying viewing of this wonderful documentary. How great is this seemingly unlimited resource we have at our fingertips ... the internet?
Yes, the world is spellbound by the inventions, the majority of which seem to come out of the United States of America. Why then do Americans get such heavy criticism? Why do the things get used against America? 🙏🏼🌼🌿🌼📿🙏🏻
Back in the late '70s, I think, I was walking along the promenade in Carrickfergus, N. Ireland, and to this day I'll never forget the sight and sound of one of these taking off from Belfast Lough and flying by Carrickfergus castle. It was a real jaw-dropper. I'm pretty sure it was a Mars, but I could be mistaken.
I go to Sproat lake every summer. Heading there again in a few days. The Martins are pretty cool. No you cant go onto the base any more but you can go right up to the planes. I have gone under the wing in my boat many times and followed them as they take off. When they fly over our cottage every morning at 11:00 AM it sounds like world WAR II. Everyone runs out to see them go over. Absolutely amazing.
Hello hello my dear friends thanks a great great lot for sharing I learned a lot about . thanks for those who designed her .I love it all bless keep up the great work GOD bless us all
My father in law flew on the Martin Mariners PB 1, PB2 and PB3 in both the Atlantic where he was stationed at "Banana River" now Cape Canaveral in Florida and Pacific theaters from January 1941 to April of 1943. He then went on to fly on Lockheed Ventura. I love these flying boats they are so magnificent, and played a pivotal and major role in helping us win the war against the Japanese and Germans. I would love to be able to fly on one today, I guess that I will have to cultivate a relationship with a pilot who flys a MARS water tanker.
Sadly, Both the Philippine Mars and Hawaii Mars are not longer in use. The Philippine was retired several years ago. The Hawaii Mars was forced into retirement by the BC Liberal Government propaganda, even though it had a state of the art upgrade that cost over 1 million dollars and can drop more water/ gel than 4 of the little water bombers used today. Both Mars are still at the Sprout Lake base. Since the Hawaii Mar's forced retirement, forest fires have been massive and out of control in BC every summer
Good news ! The Hawaii Mars has now been officially donated to the BC aviation museum on Vancouver Island. The future of the Phillipine Mars is unknown.
The SR Princess is a piece of work. I can just remember seeing it still there in Cowes when I was about five....could just see its nose in the shed....amazing.
Should of nicknamed her something like "The Birch Behemoth " since it was mostly birch and not spruce ...obviously "spruce goose" was meant to ridicule
Thank you for this excellent, informative and entertaining documentary on these fascinating aircraft. Ironically, in helping to support the war efforts, they became obsolete because of the immense networks of ground based runways created in wartime!
The good part is, while we may not get to see the immense flying boats, the Mars waterbombers aren't the last waterbomber. The CL-415 and 515 are newer models, and not nearly as massive, but are very efficient off of smaller lakes.
I went onboard one of the cocooned Princesses in 1966 or 67 at calshot while on a canoeing course. The word massive doesn't do it justice. In the wings there was a walkway to engineering stations at each engine, and you could walk upright.
Thanks for this video...So proud we have these great planes here in Canada...Need a truck washed they have the gear for the job...These planes are something very special and the crews that man them are as well...Safe flying for them always...I watch this video many times cause it makes me feel good to see...
I heard the Philippine Mars was repainted and is going to the Naval Museum in Pensacola. Are there any plans to keep the Hawaii Mars flying as a fire bomber? I would like to see one in the air.
I lived in East Cowes on the Isle of Wight where the Princess Flying Boat was built and have hazy memories of her when a young child. The last one was a well known sight left coccuned in West Cowes near the floating bridge on the edge of the river Medina. Saunders Roe were always at the forefront of development as they went on to build the first hovercraft, rocket powered fighter aircraft and led the British space rocket programme, as usual all abandoned by one government after another.
One of my earlyist memories is of going down to Neyland, South West Wales. with my Farther (it would have been around 1950/51) to see the Sunderland Flying Boats moored on Pembroke Haven, which was an RAF maritime base during the War. There was a Sunderland Flying Boat kept at the Musium in Pembroke Dock for many years untill it was moved to Hendon Musium in London.
... a dream come true! More than acquiring such a superb vehicle however, the responsibility and expense of preserving and maintaining such a 'dream' could only be afforded by very, very few. Keep the dream, it is a wonderful one.
@Robert George Are you really that uniformed? Unlike ANY other major Contractor Hughes actually put a lot of HIS own $$ into the project. GM and other major contractors were paid millions for items NEVER produced. Yet Congress ONLY went after Hughes.... GM etc bribed LOTS of Congress folks. Hughes NEVER did.
I see that this is actually Episode 4. A You Tube search indicates that this is the only episode available on the service. This one is excellent, so it would be great to see the other three. I'd love to see something on the DoX (yes, I know there is another video devoted to that behemoth - I'm going to watch it next), the magnificent (if flawed) turbojet-powered Martin Seamaster, the Short Empire Class boats and their military brother the Sunderland (by the way, I read in a 1970s copy of The Aeroplane that a restored Sunderland was flying around Southern England at that time. Also, the Soviets persevered with their Beriev military boats for quite a long time. Many thanks for a very interesting video.
I was 3 weeks old when The Spruce Goose flew. But I heard about it from my father & later saw the huge planes in Vancouver Bay.. I think the WWII Mars heroics should be better known!!!!
I use to go to sleep with the roar of the mars engines as they repaired them in NAS Alameda, calif. My dad was an air traffic controller landing them. We were stationed at Barbers Point Hawaii for two years and rode in a mars to get there.
Yes. I remember seeing flying boats as a young boy in Virginia. We lived close to the Chesapeake Bay, and Dad was a Navy man. Would have been around 1957/58.
Howard Hughes designed the modern hospital bed after a stay in the hospital where he was on the old "nurse had to crank the things up or down beds". He did not patent it, it was his gift to sick people. The Hughes Helicopters that so many pilots trained in during the Viet-Nam era, was designed so that the landing gear would absorb energy and crumple during hard landings, thereby preventing damage to the trainees and the aircraft. He was a true genius in many ways. I once saw an interview with the (navigator?) who knew Hughes was going to go airborne. The FAA inspector on board reportedly had a deluxe hissy fit.
I went to high school in LA and was often up to "Hughes Research" in Malibu. Working for HH was almost like a myth; but juxtaposed to todays' prima donnas, who are geniuses to be sure (Musk, etc.) HH never pissed on regular employees shoes or used them as whipping posts. I guess he was too busy....being a genius.
I was in the hospital in the early 70's and my room had those old beds you had to crank, by the foot of the bed to adjust them. Well I was a child at the time and got out and cranked it, and the nurse was so upset, she told me 'you just had an operation, you can't be cranking the bed'. She told me.
I have fond memories from my childhood of my grandfather's PBY Catalina that he used to give flying tours of southern Florida and surrounding islands. I often went with him and made coffee and tea for the passengers in the little galley on board and spent the night in the crew's quarters quite often during my summer break from school.
I envy you. When I was a kid I always dreamed of flying around the south pacific in a rennovated PBY. Such a cool airplane.
God wish I was,a young buddy of yours I'd be with you abd your dad and may have become a pilot
What a fabulous documentry, these giants of the sky still performing well and doing an unreplaceable job.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful story of these magnificent aircraft.
Fine tale, Jeremy...thanx !!
I grew up in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, so I saw the regular service of flying boats on Sydney Harbor, based at the waterside suburb of Rose Bay.
My father was a RAF radio engineer on Catalina’s based in the Maldives during WW2. He was 1 of 6 on an island for 5yrs. It was service and refuelling station. They were one of the last service personnel to be returned home after a mix up (9 months!) thinking they’d already been picked up, he never forgot his time on the FB’s.
Thank you for posting this great video. I grew up and pass by Martin State Airport twice a day, everyday while living there most of my life. Nothing like watching the planes at night with the runway all lite up with blue & green runway lights. We had these big birds flying over us everyday. Too cool as I look back 52 years ago! Always made me smile as I would look up to see them!
I was guessing that a lot of this was done/filmed at Martin State! When I was stationed at Phillips Army Airfield at Aberdeen, MD I flew past and around there on almost a daily basis, not to mention that I also raced sailboats out of the Middle River area!
I got pretty recently amazed by this type of aircrafts, after visiting a Flying Boats Museum here in town Foynes in Republic Of Ireland. Incredible place with incredible history, worth of seeing. About the documentary itself... One of a kind. Thanks for sharing. Hello from Tralee in ROI to all passionates!
Born in 1952 in Wisconsin and later to live in Rockford, Illinois, by 1962 the EAA became my doorway to the wealth of history, beauty and mystery airplanes offered. Later to attend college in Oshkosh, Wisconsin for a couple more years I was reunited with the fantastic wealth of aviation history the EAA offered. The joy and happiness I experienced in the decade of exposure to such men as Bob Hoover, the Cole Brothers, as well as the veteran pilots of WWII and Korea was a gift I could never have imagined receiving. Having no relatives who flew and being comparatively poor it was a doorway to such a wealth of history and accomplishment it was beyond measure. I am so thankful for the value of these blessings, meeting the men who served in the military, who built aircraft, and who offered their children the world of aviation that to watch this video and see an element of aviation that regardless of my exposure to a wealth of aviation knowledge is unique and a pure delight! I find it laughable to see the complaints and hostility of others in earlier comments regarding something so miniscule as the proper labeling of the video. Come on folks, this is a gift we're all fortunate to see. Given the wealth of idiocy now employed in labeling videos we are all blessed by even finding this one. I wish you all could find the joy I have watching this because as we all know it's time has passed as our's will soon enough.
Have been looking for this documentary online for years!
Thank you for sharing it!
i was online for years (uploaded 2012)
DOCUMENTÁRIO MARAVILHOSO !!! SENSACIONAL !!! MUITO BEM PRODUZIDO !!! NOS DEIXA EMOCIONADOS PELAS
SITUAÇÕES ABORDADAS E PELAS AERONAVES APRESENTADAS !!! MUITO BOM !!! PARABÉNS PELA POSTAGEM !!!!
I was born in 1952 but for some reason I've always been attracted to flying boats, they bring back memories that I never experienced before...
Thank you so much. Enjoyed every moment of it- They are magnificent!
Excellent documentary. Thanks to all. the support people that keep these old birds flying.
wow. I had never heard of this type of flying before. so cool. thanks for the upload.
as an aircraft maintainer, so many questions go through the mind of maintaining these beautiful aircraft. What a marvelous video!
We have one right here in my town of botwood newfoundland. Look thay up
@@colourful64able I'll do that
Great Historic video. Paved the way for modern Airliners. Traveling over the Worlds Vast Oceans, worldwide. Contributed to the War effort, and some still to this day,work as Fire Fighters Amazing.
During WWII my father, a Navy Pharmacist's Mate (3), was at the Oakland Naval Hospital in California. The Martin Mars seaplanes were used to carry the worst of the wounded from places like Iwo Jima home to America. The Mars seaplanes landed on San Francisco Bay and docked at the Alameda Naval Air Station. My father met the seaplane with his "fleet" of six $1800 Packard ambulances, each of which could carry 4 stretcher cases. Dad would go aboard the seaplane and talk to the nurse who traveled with the wounded. He would learn who the "worst of the worst" were and they would go in the ambulance with the softest springs. The ambulances would then crawl six miles up to the hospital, sometimes as slow as ten miles an hour (to avoid jostling the patients). All this he described in letters home to my mother (I wasn't born yet), who fortunately saved everything.
+Jeremy Nichols my father did 30 months in the pacific as captain of a ship. He was only 23. But they needed people, he got the job, and was supposed to shoot down kamikazes, which he and his crew did.
HE DIDN'T LIKE IT.
+EnergeticWaves My mother's baby brother was a seaman on a WWII sub chaser, a relatively small ship used for protecting mine sweepers and cable-laying ships and such. I have one of his letters to my father. It didn't sound like much fun, bouncing around in the Pacific with little time for relaxation and no place to go even if you did have the time. Compared to him my father had a soft berth with time off to go to baseball games in San Francisco.
mine was on both a sub chaser and a destroyer escort. small world.
+Jeremy Nichols "The Greatest Generation": how true! Our grandparents were of sterner stuff, that's for sure. I hope you still have those letters.
+Gregory Kennerly I have all the letters and have scanned them and written a timeline/synopsis of each one. 61 pages of text and 400 MB of images!
Nice to see this video . My dad built the MARS prototype beofre being drafted into the Navy for WW2. Martin was big into flying boats buliding, the M-130, PBM Mariner, Mars, P5M Merlin, and the magnificent P6M Seamaster, jet-powered Mach 2 plus flying boat. They were all built in Middle River, launching into Frog Mortar Creek. They were incredible machines !
This was nice to watch. Thank you for sharing. :-)
As a kid being born and raised in Vancouver BC Canada, I remember back in the early 70s Howard Hughes would come to and stay in Vancouver BC, Howard would rent the top 2 floors of the Bayshore Inn Hotel which was down by Stanly park.
Howard arrived with an entourage of 15 and rented the 19th and 20th floors of the Bayshore tower. Hughes stayed on the top floor, his staff occupied 24 rooms on the floor below. He had little to no contact with Bayshore employees, eating food prepared by his own chef.
By this time Howard was an eccentric and a recluse. After years of mental and physical decline, Howard died of kidney failure in 1976, at the age of 70 en route via air from Mexico to Houston, Texas, U.S.
.
My dad was watching the 11 o'clock news I was about to go to bed when they announced Howard Hughes had just died.
I flew aboard Hawaii Mars from Pearl Harbor to Alameda, Ca. in 1954. So awesome to see it still flies today.
Always loved flying boats. Must be great having 75% of the earth's surface for a potential runway!
A bit less. There are areas that you couldn't land on, like Cape Horn, shipping lanes, unfriendly zones etc.
Wow, a blast from the past. I remember seeing the Princess flying as a schoolboy in the 50's. Nice clip of one flying past the Needless on the Isle of Wight where I was living.
As boy, I was lucky to be shown over both the full size mock-up and the prototype Princess flying boat. My father worked at Saunders Roe. In later years I became acquainted with her flight engineer who told me of a problem they had during many flight tests: The coupled engines had gear boxes which thermometers showed alarming over heating. The crew were at their wits end but they eventually solved their anxiety. They removed the thermometers!
A beautiful and memorable video ! My father , Mitchell Maichak served willfully and honorably in WW 2 in the U. S. Navy as a radio and radar man aboard a Consolidated PBY 5 Catalina with unit VPB 99 , and aboard a Martin PBM 5 Mariner with unit VPB 201 . He made two or three Trans Atlantic trips escorting supply and transport ships to help defend against Nazi U boats . Dad has been passed ten years now . I still remember wartime remembrances of him and my uncles at family gatherings . Very frightening , yet very inspiring ! When I was old enough , I joined the U. S. ARMY ( stateside and S. E. Asia ) . Their memories made me want to take my chances on dry land ! I offer a sincere and heartfelt salute to all who have served and defended our nation . I love you forever , Dad !
I remember in the late '50's, driving by Elk Lake near Victoria B.C. and seeing the three Mars bombers. They always looked sinister in their grey paint and I don't know why they were there ( was a kid) but they were very impressive, floating there in the early morning fog. Now there's only one left, which they keep up at Sproat Lake near Port Alberni. Great documentary, I really enjoyed it.
These are the most beautiful air crafts ever! Their shapes, design, size, functionality and diversity are simply marvelous. Somethings should be replicated just for their simplicity and beauty. Now is the time to do so, just because...!
Very educational video !... I did not know there were such vintage flying boats !.... great video ! (like it at #4794)
What incredible machines! Thanks Canada, for saving these pieces of history.
Your welcome USA...
@@ThreeLittleBirds111 do you happen to know if these boat planes are still in operation?
CSVentura6607 You must watch the video to the END!. They will maintain and keep it WATER BOMBING as long as possible.
@@csventura6607they are not. The BC government stopped giving contracts to the now owner of the planes (Mr. coulson) so he retired them and attempted to return one back to the US in her original colours. The BC government blocked that, so now they sit on land at Sproat lake docile
Around 1987 my ex and I were taken for a tour of the Mars Bombers on Sproat lake. We were take on a interior tour by my friend Bryan who is a helicopter mechanic but was also tasked with maintaining the Mars. It was an amazing experience to see these giant airships that carried what seemed a tiny but long water tank in the bottom, and the rest of the interior basically empty. Then years later while living on my sailboat moored in Fanny bay The bombers flew past just above my masthead before skimming & scooping up seawater for a fire up in the Cumberland area. This lasted for 2 full days of scooping water every 20 minutes. That's a lot of water being moved and some interesting memories.
12 years old in a 10 foot rowboat in Saanich Inlet , and this
Martin Mars comes flying around the point @ 200 feet ! Over 60 years ago and I can see it like yesterday , a true WOW life moment !
I remember these birds as I was a kid in the SF area. Subsequently, I became an Aircraft Commander on Douglas C-124 Globemaster II transports in MATS - the successor to NATS (going on to have a 25 year career as pilot for Pan Am). I still must look up when hearing an aircraft, but those old radial recips really get me excited.
William Pitsker : I admire you flying “Old Shaky”!
I heard loud radial aircraft engines earlier this year above me, and being a USAF vet myself I, as always, looked up (like you) at a different sounding plane and saw a B-17 bomber flying over Knoxville, TN! What was especially interesting was that I was next to a 92 year old woman whom I asked if she recognized that plane from her youth. Smiling, she said she surely did.
You lived the dream , one day ☝🏼🤠
I admire you sir! Im 16 y/o, looking up to be a pilot, cheers from argentina!
@@hachipanki8634 20 year old Canadian aspiring pilot aswell
When I was a kid we went on a seaplane from Long Beach Ca. over to Catalina Island. Great memory.
Many thanks for the upload! Been looking for this for awhile.
Im going to book a trip now to BC to go see these 2 old ladies! SUPERB
That was just a Marvelous upload! Good picture quality and sound level. Very informative and interesting. I certainly hope that someone has dollars and sense enough to make more of these aircraft for this purpose. I know there are smaller flying boats doing this work, but those can't carry loads large enough to assure success every time.
A bit before my time so I never got to fly on one of those "flying boats" (although I've been in small seaplanes with pontoons in Alaska) but I am a pilot so I really enjoyed your video of these old-time classics! Thank you. I saw a China Clipper once, but I'd really like to see inside of one of those old ones. And I wonder how they anchored those down with ropes in port. Those Mars are huge! I saw the Spruce Goose in Long Beach the year we stayed overnight on the Queen Mary, (before it left for the museum in Oregon) -- that Howard Hughes was quite a man -- that plane was huge! OF COURSE he got that plane in the air, even if only for a few seconds -- there was no way he wouldn't when they said it couldn't fly! I wonder how they got it up to Oregon, I know they crated the props, guess I'll have to look that up.
Thanks for posting this vid. I've seen the Mars bombers over Vancouver Island and they are really impressive to see flying around. You can hear them coming for miles.
Excellent factual analysis, I had long been under the mis impression also regarding the Lancaster's bomb load, it's something you often see quoted and claimed. Thanks well done.
What a fabulous, inspiring and historic video. I enjoyed every minute. Thank you!
Thank you for uploading this!!!
Wonderful documentar y!
Thanks for keeping it flying and congratulations for your excellent job.
Just finished my second and satisfying viewing of this wonderful documentary. How great is this seemingly unlimited resource we have at our fingertips ... the internet?
Yes, the world is spellbound by the inventions, the majority of which seem to come out of the United States of America.
Why then do Americans get such heavy criticism? Why do the things get used against America?
🙏🏼🌼🌿🌼📿🙏🏻
this is an incredible video - not many people would know about these planes
My Father was the Flight Engineer on PB-Y during WWII, stationed aboard a Seaplane Tender, US Chandaleur (sp)
My father was a flight engineer on PBY-5A in Dutch Harbor during WW2.
I saw one of the Mars on the lake on Vancouver Island. Beautiful it was. The narrator brought it all together. Great documentary.
Sproat Lake, at the Coulson base.
Back in the late '70s, I think, I was walking along the promenade in Carrickfergus, N. Ireland, and to this day I'll never forget the sight and sound of one of these taking off from Belfast Lough and flying by Carrickfergus castle. It was a real jaw-dropper. I'm pretty sure it was a Mars, but I could be mistaken.
The prototype Old Lady was an old beauty!
The most beautiful.
Only one left flying now and it flew over my house the other day :) will miss seeing both of them together :(
Boeing needs to start a couple of plants to make these....
Remember the Canadians R smart....
They'll do it first...
Biden
CAN
U
Hear Me! ????
One of the best bits of footage that I have seen of modern day Spitfire and Hurricanes.
An interesting and entertaining documentary. Thanks for posting.
Great documentary - thanks for posting.
I go to Sproat lake every summer. Heading there again in a few days. The Martins are pretty cool. No you cant go onto the base any more but you can go right up to the planes. I have gone under the wing in my boat many times and followed them as they take off. When they fly over our cottage every morning at 11:00 AM it sounds like world WAR II. Everyone runs out to see them go over. Absolutely amazing.
+Colin Weeks make sure you aren't going under the wings anymore as its illegal since someone jumped on the plane and cut the top of the damn wings
WAR ll?
Hello hello my dear friends thanks a great great lot for sharing I learned a lot about . thanks for those who designed her .I love it all bless keep up the great work GOD bless us all
Many thanks. A Great Tribute.
Flying Boats: I have always loved them.
No you haven't.
Sprout Lake is a treasure --- not only because of the water bombers but because of amazing petroglyphs along its banks.
My father in law flew on the Martin Mariners PB 1, PB2 and PB3 in both the Atlantic where he was stationed at "Banana River" now Cape Canaveral in Florida and Pacific theaters from January 1941 to April of 1943. He then went on to fly on Lockheed Ventura. I love these flying boats they are so magnificent, and played a pivotal and major role in helping us win the war against the Japanese and Germans. I would love to be able to fly on one today, I guess that I will have to cultivate a relationship with a pilot who flys a MARS water tanker.
What an awesome documentary!
THESE MARTIN MARS ARE FANTASTIC AIRCRAFT ! THANK YOU ! CANADA ! FOR KEEPING THEM ALIVE !
Sadly, Both the Philippine Mars and Hawaii Mars are not longer in use. The Philippine was retired several years ago. The Hawaii Mars was forced into retirement by the BC Liberal Government propaganda, even though it had a state of the art upgrade that cost over 1 million dollars and can drop more water/ gel than 4 of the little water bombers used today. Both Mars are still at the Sprout Lake base. Since the Hawaii Mar's forced retirement, forest fires have been massive and out of control in BC every summer
Good news ! The Hawaii Mars has now been officially donated to the BC aviation museum on Vancouver Island. The future of the Phillipine Mars is unknown.
The SR Princess is a piece of work. I can just remember seeing it still there in Cowes when I was about five....could just see its nose in the shed....amazing.
the princess oh so sad ...tears run down my face ....miss you all flying boats ....the times are a changing is what we can count on
Wonderful story, I have always loved these airplanes....
No you haven't.
I remember seeing the SR Princesses at their moorings near Calshot in the early 1960's. What an imposing sight they made too.
My grandfather was the navigator on the Samoan Clipper with Captain Musick when it exploded in 1938. John Maclean....God bless him.
Спасибо за фильм.
Показан без перевода с английского языка.
Самолет этого типа вижу впервые.
История интересна.
Amazing. I saw the spruce goose not that long ago, and boy, is it big!
Should of nicknamed her something like "The Birch Behemoth " since it was mostly birch and not spruce ...obviously "spruce goose" was meant to ridicule
They even look good sitting still.
We’ve been to see them. Couldn’t get in but they are awesome to see!
MAGnificent. The workers and management who made her should be very proud indeed.
Thank you for this excellent, informative and entertaining documentary on these fascinating aircraft.
Ironically, in helping to support the war efforts, they became obsolete because of the immense networks of ground based runways created in wartime!
The good part is, while we may not get to see the immense flying boats, the Mars waterbombers aren't the last waterbomber. The CL-415 and 515 are newer models, and not nearly as massive, but are very efficient off of smaller lakes.
Such a shame I never got to see this in real life, they look magnificent.
Great documentary! Thanks!!!.
A very interesting must watch video always wondered how these were made such skill and craftsmanship
I went onboard one of the cocooned Princesses in 1966 or 67 at calshot while on a canoeing course. The word massive doesn't do it justice. In the wings there was a walkway to engineering stations at each engine, and you could walk upright.
Russ Chapman amazing
These were truly unique planes. I can only imagine what it would be like to ride in one.
@@Deludedcrackhead goldes1n
@@Deludedcrackhead goiiftemr2
thanks for the upload. Very interesting. Love these old water planes.....sorry flying boats
Thanks for this video...So proud we have these great planes here in Canada...Need a truck washed they have the gear for the job...These planes are something very special and the crews that man them are as well...Safe flying for them always...I watch this video many times cause it makes me feel good to see...
I heard the Philippine Mars was repainted and is going to the Naval Museum in Pensacola. Are there any plans to keep the Hawaii Mars flying as a fire bomber? I would like to see one in the air.
I watched this in Aviation Archaeology last Thursday, and it's the most interesting video I've seen! :D
I lived in East Cowes on the Isle of Wight where the Princess Flying Boat was built and have hazy memories of her when a young child. The last one was a well known sight left coccuned in West Cowes near the floating bridge on the edge of the river Medina. Saunders Roe were always at the forefront of development as they went on to build the first hovercraft, rocket powered fighter aircraft and led the British space rocket programme, as usual all abandoned by one government after another.
At age 2, the B-377 was clearly a serious airplane 💜, I was hooked.
One of my earlyist memories is of going down to Neyland, South West Wales. with my Farther (it would have been around 1950/51) to see the Sunderland Flying Boats moored on Pembroke Haven, which was an RAF maritime base during the War. There was a Sunderland Flying Boat kept at the Musium in Pembroke Dock for many years untill it was moved to Hendon Musium in London.
My 94 year old father in law flew PBYs catalina flying boats in WW2. stationed in Whitby Island Washington state.
Love the spruce goose
STILL FLYING!! Hawaii at Oshkosh 2018. Awesome. Now just over 70 years old.
This is nothing short of amazing.
imagine living in a cozy flying boathouse, traveling around the world, getting into adventures....
... a dream come true! More than acquiring such a superb vehicle however, the responsibility and expense of preserving and maintaining such a 'dream' could only be afforded by very, very few. Keep the dream, it is a wonderful one.
There is a couple who turned an old flying boat into their RV and they fly around the world (very slowly).
The Princess - awesome aircraft!
Dalle Smalhals hhr
Wow, always liked flying boats, Sunderlands and Princess being our biggies
thanks for the upload. Love this one
I just want to say, we're all counting on you. Good luck.
Clint Tapper 😂
Good for him. Wish people would leave Howard alone. He did good in his life.
He certainly was a complicated man. Watch the movie Howard and Melvin
@Robert George...When you exchange goods for services, that's called doing business,. .not "ripping off"
@Robert George Are you really that uniformed? Unlike ANY other major Contractor Hughes actually put a lot of HIS own $$ into the project. GM and other major contractors were paid millions for items NEVER produced.
Yet Congress ONLY went after Hughes.... GM etc bribed LOTS of Congress folks. Hughes NEVER did.
@Robert George howard was the man!!!
@Robert George stfu moron, the us government has ripped the people off for over a century.
Martin flying Boats are so Beautiful! The P6m Seamaster is my Favorite!
Excellent documentary. There’s another about these planes’ roles in WW II that’s excellent: “The Flying Boats”
I see that this is actually Episode 4. A You Tube search indicates that this is the only episode available on the service. This one is excellent, so it would be great to see the other three. I'd love to see something on the DoX (yes, I know there is another video devoted to that behemoth - I'm going to watch it next), the magnificent (if flawed) turbojet-powered Martin Seamaster, the Short Empire Class boats and their military brother the Sunderland (by the way, I read in a 1970s copy of The Aeroplane that a restored Sunderland was flying around Southern England at that time. Also, the Soviets persevered with their Beriev military boats for quite a long time. Many thanks for a very interesting video.
I was 3 weeks old when The Spruce Goose flew. But I heard about it from my father & later saw the huge planes in Vancouver Bay.. I think the WWII Mars heroics should be better known!!!!
I use to go to sleep with the roar of the mars engines as they repaired them in NAS Alameda, calif. My dad was an air traffic controller landing them. We were stationed at Barbers Point Hawaii for two years and rode in a mars to get there.
Love the music! Takes me back to a better time.
me too...reminds me of being a kid and watching this on tv
I've always though the flying boats were really impressive. As a young sailor I remember the P5Ms flown by the Navy in the 1960s.
I dont think so
Great historical video. RIP to the Mars flying boats.
oh please....
I'm happy they are still useful.Graet Planes and very good Video/Film
Yes. I remember seeing flying boats as a young boy in Virginia. We lived close to the Chesapeake Bay, and Dad was a Navy man. Would have been around 1957/58.
Howard Hughes designed the modern hospital bed after a stay in the hospital where he was on the old "nurse had to crank the things up or down beds". He did not patent it, it was his gift to sick people. The Hughes Helicopters that so many pilots trained in during the Viet-Nam era, was designed so that the landing gear would absorb energy and crumple during hard landings, thereby preventing damage to the trainees and the aircraft.
He was a true genius in many ways. I once saw an interview with the (navigator?) who knew Hughes was going to go airborne. The FAA inspector on board reportedly had a deluxe hissy fit.
Hughes is my hero. I can picture him flipping off at least twenty bureaucrats each and every day during the course of his amazing life.
I went to high school in LA and was often up to "Hughes Research" in Malibu. Working for HH was almost like a myth; but juxtaposed to todays' prima donnas, who are geniuses to be sure (Musk, etc.) HH never pissed on regular employees shoes or used them as whipping posts. I guess he was too busy....being a genius.
I was in the hospital in the early 70's and my room had those old beds you had to crank, by the foot of the bed to adjust them. Well I was a child at the time and got out and cranked it, and the nurse was so upset, she told me 'you just had an operation, you can't be cranking the bed'. She told me.