C-FLYL —

I was in Port Alberni, BC back in the early 90's..and I believe there were 'Four of Them' on Sproat Lake back then ! Were still owned by MacMillan-Blodel I believe, before they Sold Out. Saw one flying over one day..was amazing how 'Loud but Slow' it was going..looked like it shouldn't be able to stay up at that speed ! I imagine the remaining ones are for 'Parts Now', as I am sure Parts are getting scarce !

Cool...just really like this picture.

Magnificent bird.

Nice to see a real airplane. Thanks to the poster.

This beautiful SeaPlane was built by the Martin Aircraft Corp., during early WWII
It's designation by the U. S. Navy was "JRM" but were lovingly called the "Mars"
Four were built with the same idea in mind as Howard Hughes had, which was to transport large
numbers of troops and equiptment to island destinations in the South Pacific. Unfortunately that idea did not workout, because at the time the four engines did not develop enough power to lift such pay loads. All four aircraft were individualy named after a major South Pacific island group.
The aircraft were mainly based at Alameda Naval Air Station and flew regular missions ferrying
cargo and a limited quanity of personnel between Alameda and Hawaii and most often further out into the Pacific. My father, as a Navy civilian employee at NAS Alameda, worked regularly on these
aircraft, upgrading electrical componets, as well as other items that needed repair or overhaul and
fortunately was able to fly in the aircraft on many occasions.
Obviously one of the airplanes has survived and most likely is being utilized in fire fighting.

effin' fantastic shot!