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Fire Fighting Tankers.....what if.....

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  • Member since
    January 2003
Posted by Kagemusha on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 8:41 PM
Like Dai Jones, this subject holds a special place in my heart. I grew up around the C-119's, C-97's, P2V's, P-3's, C-130's and my two favorite the A-26 and PB4Y-2. They were all fighting the fires around the country until last July. When one of the C-130's, Tanker 130, and the a PB4Y-2, Tanker 123, had crashed fighting fires in California and Colorado. I started a 4'x5' diorama in 1/72 scale of the airport in Greybull, Wyoming where these awesome birds are based.
"Become aware of what is not obvious."--from "The Earth Scroll" section of The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi
  • Member since
    January 2003
  • From: NE Georgia
Posted by Keyworth on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 7:02 PM
How about a 747 rigged as a borate bomber. Or better yet, set up as a cropduster!!! :)
"There's no problem that can't be solved with a suitable application of high explosives"
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 5:57 PM
How about a squadron of B-52s carpet bombing the fire from 30000 feet?

Actually I think the best possible firefighter has already been done - the Martin Mars. Seamaster would be good though.
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: United Kingdom / Belgium
Posted by djmodels1999 on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 5:30 PM
What about a Galaxy, or the Antonov An-224, or even the Airbus A380..??!? Deluge!
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 12:01 PM
B-52s, B-2, B-1B, the list goes on......
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 12:01 PM
I have some aviation magazine pictures from around the mid '60's showing B-17's dropping retardant in the western States, don't suppose there are too many of them around in that role now ...

Sure could probably use a few though ... I empathize with Dai, my sister-in-law has been out of her home for over a week now because of the BC fires, house is still standing so we are keeping fingers crossed ...
  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by mtollens on Tuesday, August 26, 2003 9:37 PM
How about a B-17 water bomber?
Max Tollens "plastic surgeon"
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, August 26, 2003 8:07 PM
This is a subject very near to my heart as I live in a bushfire area that is so bad that we do not take our holidays in the summer. As a matter of fact we very rarely go more than a few miles away on a bad day ie strong nor wester and high temps.
I would like to see a C130J adapted as a water bomber also a DHC4.
On a fanciful note how about a Sunderland or a Martin? Seamaster?
A B36 would be awsom, and a little frightening!!
Dai
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Canada / Czech Republic
Posted by upnorth on Tuesday, August 26, 2003 11:39 AM
There is, or was, a site out there promoting a concept called the "Fire Hog".

Essentially, the Fire Hogs would be modified A-10s taken from USAF surplus stocks. Some of the modifications include a belly mounted retardant tank, a FLIR sensor on the nose and an option to refill its retardant tank in flight. Just exactly what sort of tanker aircraft would do this was not mentioned.

According to the information on the sites I saw, the USAF was not too keen on the idea of sparing its surplus aircraft for such purposes, so I don't know if the idea is still going or has been abandoned.

I tried to modify a 1/72 A-10 according to what was on the sit, but it didn't work out too well, maybe I'll try again sometime.

As for what I'd like to see modified for that sort of thing, the first image that hits my mind is a Nimrod ASW bird opening its doors over a fire.

On a smaller scale, perhaps a C-2 Greyhound with its cargo hold filled with a water tank that could simply be dumped through the back door.
  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: Newfoundland, Canada
Fire Fighting Tankers.....what if.....
Posted by rodc on Tuesday, August 26, 2003 11:15 AM
I have always been partial to the aircraft that have been either custom built (such as the Bombardier CL-415) or modified (P2V Neptune) used to battle forest fires. What would be the coolest/offbeat aircraft that could be pressed into similar service? How about a Convair B36 Peacemaker - quite a scene flowing low and through the smoke and flame

Looking forward to your comments.
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