Fighting the fire from the sky

When you faced with massive forest fires that span hundreds of miles, it might seem as if everything is lost and you can do nothing to stop the flames. However, there is a capable resource you can use to an enormous effect on even the largest natural wild fires - the fireman plane.

The first planes

First conceived shortly after World War II, the first fire-fighting aircraft were tested out in the 1950 s in California. These early efforts were flat only small, single-engine that uses beer in wooden barrels for carrying water, reducing his load in forest fires. While these efforts were unsuccessful, the potential of these weapons fire was made by Forest Service, who took the idea of using larger aircraft of former surplus military war.

These aircraft, which included such beasts like the B-17 Flying Fortress and Boxcar C-119, were ideal for the transport of heavy loads on long distances and were therefore also perfect for transporting water and fireproof materials. Hard and maneuverable, these aircraft were able to resist the aerial firefighting so previous cousins could never do and were capable of carrying a payload enough to have a real impact on wild fires.

Some commercial aircraft were also used as a fire, including the DC-6 and the DC-7.

The single firefighter - CL-215

Given the success of former ex-comercial and military aircraft fire-fighting, were never single machine developed specifically for this purpose. Canadair CL-215 was introduced in 1967 and remained in production for 23 years. Used mainly in Quebec and France, these aircraft also saw much use in Spain Italy, Greece, Venezuela, Thailand. CL-215 flight is a very capable of firefighting, capable of delivering chemical flame retardant water of 4,500 kg or loading machine while also being able to take off and land on water.

Today the fireman plans

Today, a wide range of aircraft used in fighting fires. Some CL-215 is still in use, while the smallest firefighter is the only engine refuelling, an aircraft designed for agricultural spraying converted to drop up to 800 gallons of fire load in.

The world's largest aircraft firefighter is called the "Evergreen supertanker", a Boeing 747 that become specifically, for the purpose of fighting fires. It is capable of carrying a huge 24,000 gallons of water or chemicals and is able to deploy worldwide, wherever you need.