An effort by museums in Maryland and British Columbia to preserve the two remaining Martin Mars flying boats has failed.
The Martin plant at Middle River, Maryland, is where the huge aircraft were built – four of them, originally – as World War II Navy transports. The Glenn L. Martin Museum there had hoped to bring one home.
Instead, the flying boats will keep on toiling as firefighters, able to dump enormous quantities of fire retardant. They were bought last month by Coulson Aircrane from former owner TimberWest.
Coulson, based at Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island, operates helicopters in logging and firefighting operations throughout the northwest.