Caribbean All Inclusive Packages - Firebombers - Old and New

The A25 Mitchell Firebombers were finally retired in the mid '80s, and a scarcity of parts, through attrition due to crashes mostly in far flung countries such as New Guinea and Paraguay. But had to land and have their tanks replenished with a pre-mixed fire retardant that not only put out fires but also stained anybody and anything that came in contact with it a dark rusty red, these Firebombers could not scoop up water on a low-level flypast over a lake. And then a tank was installed that filled the entire area, including the bay doors, the Mitchell Firebombers had everything removed from the bomb bays. Firebombers fighting forest fires have fascinated me since I was stationed on an airbase where a flight of converted A25 WWll Mitchell bombers were also based during the fire seasons.

The first Firebombers on the scene were from Oregon, when a big forest fire broke out in Nothern Alberta; i can remember a time when all Alberta's Firebombers were in Northern California. There was an understanding between the western states and provinces that Firebombers were a commodity to be shared in time of need, in those days. All the way to California, fighting fires throughout western Canada and down into the western states, the A25s were always busy, during those days in the late fifties into the mid seventies.

They were the largest flying boats ever flown operationally and are still operated as Firebombers by Flying Tankers Inc. 000lb behemoths powered by four piston driven engines with a wing span of 200 feet, these were 140. The fire fighting service had three WWll amphibious Martin Mars, on the West Coast of British Columbia.

000 US Gallons) in 37 consecutive drops over a flying time of 5.9 hours, a single Martin Mars Firebomber established a record by dropping a million litres (265, in an operation where the supply lake and the fire were in close proximity. It will cover at least a four acre area of the fire, when dropped. Some foam concentrate (one part concentrate to 20 parts water) is released into the 7200 US gallon water tank, then en route to the fire, the Mars is fitted with a scoop used by the pilot to load up with water while flying over a lake. These days the Mars carry a 600 US gallon tank of foam concentrate that has greatly enhanced its efficacy as a Firebomber.

Keep in mind this is being done in a seventy ton aircraft - dry weight! The water is taken in at a rate of a ton per second with the operation completed in 25 seconds, because of the ram pressure. Maintaining a steady 70 mph while the pilot maintains the aircraft "on the step" while the co-pilot lowers the scoop to the water, the flight engineer then takes control of the engines. The pilot enters into a landing procedure dropping the flight speed to 70 mph as he maneuvers the aircraft over the water. Co-pilot and the flight engineer sitting at his panel behind the co-pilot, the "scooping" process itself demands a tightly choreographed operation between the pilot.

Fitted with scoops, however, they are not, although they have been specially designed and developed for the firefighting industry. These twin-engined turboprop aircraft came at a hefty 18 Million Dollars US. Accepting delivery of the first Canadair CL-415 firebombers, recently the province of Saskatchewan bought some new firebombers.

It is usually a combination of fixed and rotary wing craft that fight forest fires together with smokejumpers fires, nowadays. These rotary wing craft have taken over firebombing duties with large water buckets slung underneath, due to the ever increasing lift capacity of helicopters, in recent years.

And they are sure to continue to fascinate onlookers as they do their aerial water-scooping ballets over lakes. Are sure to continue operating on the front line of forest fire defence for at least the foreseeable future, in whatever style or fashion of aircraft, firebombers.