I grew up around airplanes, flying was my Dad’s passion in life. I showed up in his log book for the first time before I was a year old. For a while, his plane parked beneath a water bomber - a Canso, not a Mars. I loved pushing our small plane into its position, safe and snug under the huge Canso’s vast wing. I learned that it was a firefighter and felt it was a good friend to have!

We went to all the airshows within reach throughout my childhood. I had mixed feelings at these events. The coolest displays were always military jets, but watching a jet scream past or hover and rotate over the runway right in front of us mostly filled me with fear. If that plane were to hunt a human, there’d be no outrunning it, no hiding. I felt them at a physical level, there was no getting away from the fact that the most advance planes were all built to harm. I loved Top Gun as much as every other kid, but in real life I found these planes unsettling. Not water bombers though. I felt awe and happiness when I watched water bombers. The way you feel around a protective big brother. In my mind, there were no better planes, and no cooler pilots, than water bombers.

When the B. C. Aviation Museum started to mention that they hoped Hawaii Mars would be retiring with them, I got excited. I knew I would be there, and maybe a hundred or so aviation enthusiasts. I was in for a shock on the day of her actual retirement because everyone else on the island came out too! Looking around at the crowd on the hill as Hawaii landed was surreal. Old men with tears under their eyes, kids with eyes round with awe, the biggest, most peaceful crowd I’ve ever stood in. I thought I’d been to some big concerts, certain songs causing that magical crowd unity, but nothing compared to this all-ages outpouring of love for our beloved guardian of the skies.

That’s the answer to the most common question I get: Why write this particular book?

Hawaii Mars is no ordinary plane. She captures the dreams of so many of us, from so many walks of life. Her story has the ups and downs and career pivots that most of us have experienced. Built to be a warplane, but instead, she kept watch over British Columbians, an answer to our fears when summer fires threatened. I hope this book brings her story to the next generation of aviation enthusiasts.