One of the world’s largest flying boats is being retired—to the desert. The Philippine Mars, one of two remaining Martin JRM Mars World War II U.S. Navy transports, has been acquired by the Pima Air and Space Museum near Tucson, Arizona.
The aircraft is owned by the Coulson Group in Port Alberni, British Columbia, and spent decades fighting wildfires up and down the west coast of North America. An earlier deal to send the aircraft to the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, fell through but the airplane was painted in navy blue in anticipation of that move.
