Thousands of people gathered on the shoreline of North Saanich’s Patricia Bay for the Hawaii Martin Mars’ last landing on the night of Aug. 11.
Among them were Martin and Kristine Van Zyl, along with their young son Sebastian. The event held strong symbolic significance for the couple hailing from Port Alberni, the longtime home of the red-and-white aircraft.
“I actually grew up on Sproat Lake and so that was the view outside of my house, the water bomber, every morning. This was kind of full circle for me seeing it come to land for the last time,” said Martin.
“Our parents were on Sproat Lake watching it take off earlier today and now we got to see it land,” added Kristine. “It was such a great end cap to such a beautiful part of history that we grew up with. It's just a landmark for our town.”
Equally symbolic for Rick Smerch, a former airplane mechanic at Coulson Aviation, seeing it fly one last time was an event he couldn’t miss.
“That’s history,” said Smerch. “It's the biggest water bomber in the world. I haven’t worked on that one, but I've seen it sitting in the yard for years, so to see it fly is pretty awesome.”
For tourists Marti Grudes and Fred Craft, visiting from Eugene, Ore., this event was an unexpected delight.
“It was fantastic,” said Crafts. “We didn't know what to expect and to see this enormous plane fly over with all the jets was just spectacular. Not only was this a historic moment but it seems like this was a community moment. All these people showed up and were cheering for this antique airplane. It was a spectacular moment.”
“We were fortunate to have a gentleman sit down next to us who has worked with that specific plane,” added Gurdes. “He knows the Mars, he has walked on its wings because he was a forester. We had an hour and a half of listening to him, tell us about working with the plane. We feel like we've had an enormous history (lesson about) this aircraft.”
History enthusiast Graham Johnson left his hometown of Ladner specifically to attend the event.
“It’s such a historic moment,” said Johnson. “It was too bad that they couldn't make it run longer, but this was a fitting goodbye at least. I didn't realize there would be so many people here, but it's the kind of human event that everybody comes together to witness.”
For more information about the Hawaii Martin Mars, visit the British Columbia Aviation Museum website at bcam.net.
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