In July 2024, I travelled to Sproat Lake, British Columbia, to the obtain some drone stills and videos of this historical troop transport. In the 1960’s, four of these largest transport planes from WWII were converted to waterbombers for the forestry industry in British Columbia. Only two still remain. Shortly after my visit to the Colson waterbomber base on Sproat Lake, just west of Port Alberni, this plane, Hawaii MARS (C-FLYL), was scheduled to make its final flight, retiring to the BC Aviation Museum, located at Victoria International Airport (YYJ)
Martin Hawaii MARS JRM-3 waterbomber
