Below are some good links that provide more info -- and some video -- on the subject of my Sunday column, the Mars Martin seaplane, the biggest ever built for the military. By the way, in one test run, this plane stayed airborne 36 hours carrying no payload. It had gobs of endurance power. On an early operation in 1943, a Mars, in the hands of a commander and crew of 16, took off from Patuxent River with 13,000 pounds of cargo and delivered it to Natal, Brazil, in a nonstop flight covering 4,375 miles in 28 hours 25 minutes. Historian Jack Breihan finds its regular runs from San Francisco to Hawaii during the war years most impressive.

Yes, Mars Estates and the Mars supermarkets are named for this baby. I hope the Martin museum succeeds in bringing one home. The flight from Vancouver to Middle River ought to be exciting. They'll have to take a "lake route" because, should the Mars need to make a landing on its way back to Baltimore, it can only land on wet stuff.

Bring the Mighty Mars Back Home

Martin Maryland Aviation Museum

Martin Mars as 'Water Bombers'

Jack Breihan history on Martin Aviation

More on Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Howard Hughes, who was like Glenn L. Martin only very different because Martin actually produced a giant seaplane that worked