Hi all.
I'm new here and I will be up front, I am here in a last ditch pitch to get some support for a major initiative.
Some of you may know that the 2 Martin Mars Water Bombers (run by Flying Tankers Inc under TimberWest) are up for sale.
There are a number of bidders... but no certainty as to whether the Bombers will keep flying, or sent away, or what. However, one stipulation of the deal has been to keep at least one of the planes in Port Alberni as a museum.
So with that, there is an initiative here in Port Alberni to raise money to purchase one of the bombers and build a museum for it on the Waterfront much like the Gruman Goose museum in Oregon.
This museum would be dedicated to Dan McIvor.. the man who brought the Mars to Port Alberni, and received an Order of Canada for having “developed water bombing techniques that have saved thousands of acres of forest in British Columbia.”
This is the website:
http://www.savethemars.com/Port_alberni_initiative.htm
The deadline for bids has been extended to January 31st. Please, if you are at all capable or interested in supporting this initiative, in spirit or in action...
Contributions should be sent to the BC Aviation Council,
4360 Agar Drive, Richmond, B.C. V7B 1A3
Attention: Dan McIvor Foundation.
Donated items may be delivered by prior arrangement by calling Stacey Robins. 250-723-1243
For additional information e-mail Stacey Robins at purple@frii.com or call 250-723-1243
or email
info@savethemars.com
edit: And to introduce myself... and why I care.. well, number one, I live in Port Alberni of course, and have grown up in awe of these machines. But also, my father was a co-pilot for a few months in the 70s when he left the CAF.
Preserve History: Help the Martin Mars stay in Canada
Moderators: lilfssister, North Shore, sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, I WAS Birddog