TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A big — really big — piece of aviation history has been crawling along Pima County roads the past few days. It’s part of the largest flying boat that ever made regular flights
The Martin Mars Flying boat is so big, crews wait until the evening hours to move it.
It’s hard to convey on camera just how large the plane is. It recalls a quote from a pilot who flew another huge plane, the B-36 bomber. He said, “It’s so big, it’s like sitting on your porch and flying your house.”
You could say that about the Mars.
The Martin Mars can only land on water. That's how it ended up on Lake Pleasant. From there, the wings were removed and it began its long, slow roundabout trip toward the Pima Air & Space Museum, avoiding underpasses and squeezing under stoplights that were tilted toward the sky.
Thursday, it stopped at Ryan Airfield, west of Tucson to wait for quiet nighttime traffic.
Karen Serkowski says she’s loved planes since she was 4 years old, when her mom strapped her in the back seat of a plane and took off.
When she drove by and saw the Mars, she hit the brakes.
“I like to go past Ryan, because my husband and I learned to fly here in the '70s.....I did a pretty quick U-turn and came back. So I'm really glad a cop wasn't there”
Bruce Sublette spent 22 years in the Marines and parachuted out of plenty of planes in his time. He just had to come see the Mars.
“Amazing, absolutely amazing that they could build something like this back in that time..... to do what it’s done.”
When asked, “Can you imagine yourself on this thing right now?”
“I would love it,” Sublette replied.
Martin Aircraft built seven Mars aircraft for the Navy during World War II, but they were completed too late to conduct the long-range patrols and submarine hunting they were built for. The Navy used them for cargo through the 1950s. Each one had a name, like a ship. This one is named Philippine Mars.
The Martin Mars are regarded as the largest operational flying boats ever built. Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose flying boat is the largest, but it only flew once and was never in regular operational use.
Canadian companies turned two of the Mars flying boats into water bombers. They would skim along a lake, and pick up tons of water to drop on wildfires. That kept the planes from being scrapped.
Coulson Aviation donated the planes to museums, including Pima Air & Space.
To get the big plane to Tucson, Southwest Industrial Rigging had to plan the perfect route making sure anything too low for the Mars could be moved out of the way.
Aaron Goldstein with Southwest Rigging says the special route took the plane through small towns with big receptions.
“Pretty much the entire town would be out there, because basically, we kind of were the hottest thing in town moving through with this,” Goldstein said.
The Phillippine Mars continues to attract people who love special planes wherever it has stopped.
