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.
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.
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.
@@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
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.
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.
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. .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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 !
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 !
DOCUMENTÁRIO MARAVILHOSO !!! SENSACIONAL !!! MUITO BEM PRODUZIDO !!! NOS DEIXA EMOCIONADOS PELAS SITUAÇÕES ABORDADAS E PELAS AERONAVES APRESENTADAS !!! MUITO BOM !!! PARABÉNS PELA POSTAGEM !!!!
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.
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.
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? 🙏🏼🌼🌿🌼📿🙏🏻
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.
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.
Should of nicknamed her something like "The Birch Behemoth " since it was mostly birch and not spruce ...obviously "spruce goose" was meant to ridicule
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 !
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...!
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.
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.
I saw these two planes in Witcha, Kansas in 2023. To see them sitting on the ground was unforgettable. To watch them take off was unbelievable. I had to take photos on my phone. If I had known I would see them I would have brought my Olympus camera.
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.
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.
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.
... 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.
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.
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.
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.
@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.
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.
My uncle worked for Saunders row and when I was 12years old took me to see the Princess flying boats at Cowes, They were massive and there were three there, in the end two were scraped and the last one was cocooned before it was scrapped at Southampton.
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.
