--- title: "Buy This 9,600-HP Radial-Engined Firefighting Seaplane From WWII for $5M" date: "2022-08-20" modified: "2022-08-20" authors: - name: "Victoria Scott" job_title: "Contributor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/victoria-scott" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/buy-this-9600-hp-radial-engined-firefighting-seaplane-from-wwii-for-5m" categories: - "Culture" - "For Sale" - "News" tags: - "Aviation" --- # Buy This 9,600-HP Radial-Engined Firefighting Seaplane From WWII for $5M ![]() *\Platinum Fighter Sales\* Let's say you have five million dollars to spend on a private plane. Sure, you can get [yourself a HondaJet]() or an [Embraer Phenom 100](), but why bother having a plane that the other millionaires at the local airport could just go buy, too? Get yourself something unique, like the only operational [1945 Martin JRM-3 Mars left on the planet](), and make sure no one can steal your thunder. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The Martin JRM-3 Mars is offered for sale by [Platinum Fighter Sales]() for $5 million, and yes, it's ready-to-fly. The plane's life began originally in the lead-up to World War II, when the US Navy commissioned The Martin Company (now carrying its name on in Lockheed Martin) to build a massive flying boat for use as a patrol bomber. (Flying boats [land on their bellies](), as opposed to floatplanes, which use pontoons.) By the time the first development prototype (known as the XPB2M-1, seen below) [initially flew in November 1941](), patrol bombers were considered obsolete; nonetheless, the Navy ordered 20 JRMs, but changed its purpose to that of a long-range transport plane. As the [war wound down]() the Navy canceled most of its order and only ended up purchasing six of the massive aircraft. The first of these entered service in mid-1945 and as a result, never saw much action in WWII, instead serving as cargo and troop carriers for post-war Pacific operations. Despite its low production numbers and limited use, the JRM still represented the peak of Allied flying boats in WWII, with a 200-foot wingspan, four 2,400 HP radial engines, and an absolutely absurd in-its-era range of 4,900 miles (for comparison, the B-29 Superfortress that saw heavy use in WWII had a range of 3,250 miles). ![]() *The XPB2M-1 on the ground in May 1942 / *US Navy** Of the seven built (six production, and one test craft), the test plane was scrapped at the end of the war, and another production craft was lost almost [immediately in a crash in 1945](). The remaining five saw service after WWII in a variety of jobs, including troop-carrying service (for which the JRM captured the at-the-time passenger record in 1950, with [301 passengers on a single flight]()). By 1956 there were four left parked at the US Naval facility in Alameda, CA, as they had been made obsolete by more modern post-war aircraft and the continued construction of the long runways needed to land them on. In 1959, they were saved from scrap by a Canadian company that purchased all four and converted them to firefighting tankers. ![]() ![]() ![]() The years whittled down the fleet further through [either neglect](), [typhoon damage](), [or crashes]() until there was only one flightworthy example remaining. That one plane, the Hawaii Mars II, is the one for sale now. It served as a tanker until *2015,* with a 7,200-gallon water capacity that it could refill in a [single 20-second water skimming run](). The Hawaii Mars II is powered now by a set of four Wright R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone 18-cylinder radial engines, producing 2,400 HP each, keeping it aloft. Its last flight was an exhibition one in 2016, and it is sold as-is where-is, so expect to need to do a thorough once-over before taking to the skies in it. And yes, I admit that overall it might be a little more finicky a personal plane than a HondaJet with a combined 72 pistons to keep an eye on and an operational history spanning 76 years, but I'd still argue it's worth it. ## Author Victoria Scott is a former staff writer for The Drive. She began in the automotive industry as a freelancer in early 2021, fresh out of a programming job at NASA Mission Control. ### Author social links [LinkedIn]() [Instagram]() [Twitter]()