Well I am posting this everywhere, why not here.

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I have been threatening this for three years, hope it's worth the wait.

Near the logging town of Port Alberni, Vancouver Island Canada there's a
seaplane base on Sproat Lake, home to two elegant giants from the golden
age of aviation. I am fortunate to live near them and have heard their thunder flying over me a few times.



In this Google Maps view, they are riding at anchor. The base is to the
North, at the end of Bomber Base Road. Hangar space would not be practical
for these aircraft, they ride out the winter on their beaching gear.

Here's a quick rundown:



Youtube Doco



Short Version

Contracted in 1938, built from 1943-1947. After the war they were used to
ferry cargo across the Pacific. Parked in 1956, the surviving four [of
five built] were purchased as firebombers. Two crashed, today the surviving pair are the only working four engine flying
boats in the world.

As a side note I will be making an attempt to find the wreckage of
Caroline Mars near Parksville, at some point. It's somewhere in dense
forest, like all the wooded areas around here. Wish me luck!

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On August 31st, I was headed to Tofino for the day and saw that the base
was open for tours. After paying 10$ we got a private tour.

Here's the entrance to the base. There's a gift shop and waiting area just
around the corner. Behind is one arm of Sproat Lake.



Around the corner is this amazing sight. Philippine Mars is hunkered down
for the season after helping out in California. Hawaii Mars is down there
still, testing out a system where Cobra choppers use IR to locate the
fire, bird dogs mark it and then the Mars does the big job.



Freshly painted is this spare nose section, this would have been the
eighth Mars built. They got tons of spare parts when they purchased the aircraft.



You cannot back away enough to get it all in! What a monster....



Here's the beaching gear. Beefy! Just behind the hull step are the pipes that extend to scoop up water. The tanks fill in 30 seconds!



The livery of the new operator. These planes changed hands in 2006.



The two big hatches over the beaching gear are the dump doors in
Philippine Mars. Hawaii Mars was converted later and has a slightly
different dump system that dumps out of the bottom. These are also the only waterbombers in the world that can take salt water!



Here's a closer view of the starboard side dump doors. Pressure relief overflow doors are the small white vents under the wing.



Wright Cyclone, R-3350. The No 2 engine on the left was removed to install in Hawaii
Mars.



Shall we go inside??? Note the two open hatches above the cockpit.



The lower deck had the tanks and this small area that led to the bow
compartment. Photography was difficult, it was hard to back up enough to
get a good picture.

Not shown are a couple of big 200 gallon tanks that held different fire
retardant agents, which can be custom-mixed "on the fly" by the crew.



Up a short ladder and it's heaven.



Here is our guide on the flight deck. The two steel poles are the top of the ladder
down to the lower deck.

All the 30's furniture is intact, the desk on the right was the radio
operators'. Note the pencil sharpener!



The flight engineer's panel. Throttle, mix and air levers ahoy. On the
left is the dump and mix panel. The small circular window gives the
engineer a direct view of the port side engines.



Crank this sucker up!!!



These control locks must come off somehow.... The toggle switches on the
yoke are the water dumps.



Big old trim wheels.



The panel. Now THIS is an airplane!



Stand up in the pilot's seat and the open windows give a terrific view
aft.



Looking forward. Note the parking spot for Hawaii Mars, in paint. The
trucks are used to haul them around.



These magnificent engines bid you goodbye!!

About 5 or 6 years ago I was watching the Discovery Wings channel (now the military channel, I think) when a show about fire fighting airplanes came on. I was going to change it, how interesting can could it be, right? It was about these very same airplanes, and I was hooked in the first 2 minutes. To this day I use these planes as an example of how cool that channel was. I miss it a lot. Thanks for sharing Paul, that was awesome.

Thanks brotherman, that is awesome.

My father in law was assigned to the last PBY in the USN.

Glad to see the birds are still cared for.

Nah, these pics re just for fun.

Yes, there is just something about them, a moment in technology. I also feel at home in them in an odd way.

Yeah, those Chipmunks have been around forever LOL.

That's awesome, thanks!

I snapped some shots of the Blue Angels this last summer; we watched them out on the water on a tug.


She was trying to bite me!


People whooping it up before the show.

Most of the shots were not very good, but some were fair (buggers move fast! ):



There are other shots, but not really worth posting



Looks like shot a 5 year old would get


Right over the tug!

The last shot is super sweet. Cool tug too!

I saw the Blue Angels fly....



...but it was in these things, the A4. And they were allowed to fly over the crowds in those days, what a thrill.

At the same show I saw the newly-deployed A10, a couple of CF101 Voodoos flying low over our car, and a couple of B-25's and Avengers flying in formation. Also there are pics of the CWH Lancaster pre-restoration. I should really dig up those pics sometime.

Luvverly pics of the Blue Angels, thanks for posting!!

Never seen them myself, but have seen the Red Arrows plenty..... amazing what these guys can do.

I should also have some pics of a couple of Red Arrows Hawks when they were in our hangar for repairs somewhere......... I really need to find all these pics.

I think I also have one of a Vulcan doing a low level vertical climb above the Southend beach....... big bloody loud bugger he was

Need to do some hunting tonight

It's the Snowbirds here in Canada. Seen them dozens of times, plus they train in the winter at nearby Comox AFB.

Sure love to see a flying Vulcan...one has been restored in the UK to flying status. Saw the one at RAF Hendon, it dominated the hall. My Mum saw them back when they were first deployed in the 1950's, at RAF St Athan.