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 Mitchell Firebombers had everything removed from the bomb bays, including the bay doors, and then a tank was installed that filled the entire area. These Firebombers could not scoop up water on a low-level flypast over a lake, 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. Through attrition due to crashes mostly in far flung countries such as New Guinea and Paraguay, and a scarcity of parts, the A25 Mitchell Firebombers were finally retired in the mid '80s.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Aviation
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