Philippine Mars, the last flying example of the world’s largest flying boat, aborted its second attempt to begin its journey from a remote British Columbia lake to a museum in Arizona on Sunday. Instead of landing in San Francisco Bay, the massive former Navy transport instead turned around over Port Townsend, Washington, and put down in a sheltered anchorage near Victoria International Airport after about two hours in the air. Local media is reporting that it had an engine problem.
Sunday’s diversion came three days after a bad oil pressure regulator in an engine forced the plane’s return to Sproat Lake, near Port Alberni, B.C. With that snag fixed, the plan was to head to San Francisco on Sunday, the first of three legs on its way to an eventual overland arrival at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson. It’s not clear how long it will take to address Sunday’s snag.
Meanwhile, more details have been released on the proposed itinerary for the giant aircraft, which spent more than 50 years as a water bomber after being sold to a group of Canadian forest companies. It’s not clear if these plans will hold with Sunday’s diversion, but the schedule for that flight put the Mars in the Bay Area before sunset on Sunday for Customs clearance and a stop in Alameda Lagoon, where the plane was based when it was operated by the Navy. It was then scheduled to head to San Diego and land near the USS Midway Museum. The landing location in Arizona is being kept secret.
