Peter Duniho wrote:

Maybe you should share your
expertise with those operating such airplanes as the Martin Mars (originally
designed as a military troop transport, now used *only* for fire fighting)

The Mars was originally designed as a reconnaissance bomber, filling the role
of the Catalina. It semms, however, that none of the original bomber versions
were ever built. Martin then designed a transport version of the plane, but
orders for it were reduced with the end of WW II, and only five transport
versions were built. Four of them served well as transports during Korea. So,
while it's true that the existing aircraft were based on a bomber design, it is
equally true that all Mars aircraft produced were designed originally as
transports.

Source: "Wings Over Water", David Oliver.

George Patterson
If you're not part of the solution, you can make a lot of money prolonging
the problem.