MARS Outboard Engine

[pearldiver]

Hey Sea Rat, Have you ever seen a MARS outboard engine used by the SEALS? Here's some trivia for you if you didn't. This engine is cool. The Seals would throw the blowboat and the engine overboard. Then underwater they would move the little blow boat and motor to where they needed it. The engine had petcocks near the cylinders on the head and you would drain the water out, put the sparkplugs in that were in a water tight case, install the engine on the boat, prime it and away you would go. I should have bought the one for sale at my boat yard years ago for $250.00 when I had the chance. Now that I think about it, that would have been very neat to have at the museum. MARS means Military Amphibious Reconnaissance System. OMC (Outboard Marine Corporation who makes Johnson / Evinrude outboards) Made this engine. God it's neat if you ever saw one and heavy duty. They came in a wooden box with the brown wax style paper and a kit with the spark plugs. They were coated in grease. Many people have never heard of these engines. If you ever do, or see some weird 35HP tiller handle that is gray and has petcocks on the head. Snag it if the price is right. You won't go wrong. They are rare. OMG I just found one on EBAY for $1800.00... The number is 120347189442 Looks like they changed the prop for a Jet drive. That reduces the horsepower when you change from a prop to Jet drive........Now why didn't I buy that one for $250.00 bucks.

[mikeeplay001]

I happen to have one of those motors for sale. If interested i am in north Carolina and asking $1000

[SeaRat]

Pearldiver,

I have not seen this kind of inflatable, and it was not available when I was in the USAF (hadn't been invented yet). But it is not what the USAF would use, as there is no need to take it sneaky Pete underwater. We deployed out of aircraft, and now they are deploying with inflatable Zodiac boats too. I don't know the type of moter the USAF uses, but I do know it needs to be immediately available when the PJs land. Here's a YouTube video of a deployment out of a HC-130 aircraft, and I'm pretty sure that that huge bundle that the flight engineers (FEs) pushed out was an inflatable boat.



John

[SeaRat]

I just found a 2019 PJ jump out of a C-17. It is very instructive to me, although it is very long. But you will see two boats go down the ramp, using different systems. The PJs were both free-falling and using static lines, and it appeared to me that the jumpmaster was much easier with the more maneuverable square canopies than it was with our S-10/S-17 chutes without a boat on the water.



John

[SeaRat]

Here's another YouTube video, this time showing both land and water jumps. I think the water jump is out of a C-5, or a C-141:

GoPro footage of U.S. Air Force pararescuemen (PJs) assigned to the 212th Rescue Squadron showcasing their capabilities of long-range search and rescue during training operations. The 212th Rescue Squadron (212 RQS) is a unit of the Alaska Air National Guard stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. Filmed in December 2017.

Film Credits: Courtesy of MSgt. Michael Sullivan, 212th Rescue Squadron and A1C Kelly Willett

John

[cnotthoff]

Wing Inflatables, made right here in Humboldt County. The company grew from 2 brothers who wanted better rafts for their whitewater tours to one of the largest suppliers of inflatables to the US military.

Good Dives,
Charlie

[SeaRat]

I think this is the Wing Inflatables website:


www.inflatablesolutions.com/P-Series-polyurethane-Inflatable-boats.php

Thanks, Charlie.

John