Warbird Information Exchange

What are the oldest aircraft still being used as fire bombers today? Besides the Martin Mars?

Or maybe a better question....how many bombers are still piston powered? I see a lot of the S-2 Trackers converted to turbo prop.

Any good sites with the current list or pictures of firebombers?

Thanks,
Nathan(future fire bomber pilot)

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Well, there are still some PBY-5A's being used in Canada. Conair still operates a ton of Trackers and some DC-6's. There are TBM's being used by FPL in New Brunswick. I think they're more being used for pest control rather than water bombing. But, I could be wrong.

That's all I know of.

Cheers,

David

Currently the oldest U.S. airtankers are the DC-7's that Butler Aviation has on contract with the ODF, and the P-2V Neptunes that Neptune Aviation has on contract with the U.S. Forest Circus and BLM. they are the oldest ones I know of, these are of course Piston Powered. Go to: wwwscalefirebombers.com they have a ton of great photographs of old and new air tankers.
Scott....

There has been a PBY stationed at Deer Park, WA for years now. I believe most of the other recips have been grounded by the USFS, but I saw a Neptune, Inc. P2V fly over yesterday out of KCOE.

http://firepirates.com/

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I'm pretty sure that N85U is older than any of Bulter's DC-7s. (BTW, that's the tanker working for the State of Washington out of Deer Park mentioned in the post above).

Didn't the Marses get retired?

http://www.martinmars.com/

Last I heard, Coulson hadn't decided for sure when they're going to retire one of the birds nor which one would be retired. They're still in too much demand.

Butler's DC-7's were manufactured in 1957 (Tanker 62) and 1958 (Tankers 60 and 66).Some of (probably most of) Neptune's P-2's are older.I only ran a registration check on one (N9855F/Tanker 06/P2V-5F).It shows a manufacture date of 1954.

The Mars are still flying here in BC. I forget the new company that bought them, but they are a local company that will continue to base them at Sproat Lake, BC. From my understanding they are puttin' out fires as we speak.

With this new company purchaseing them, I'm not sure how much longer they are going to be used for bombing. Sadly, nothing can replace the efficiency and load carrying ability of the Mars. And when I say efficiency, I certainly don't mean operating costs, what I mean is that it is the highest capacity water-bomber that can pick up loads off the water instead of having to land at home-base and getting refilled.

I really hope they don't push them too hard. I still want both of them to survive their careers and end up in museums.

I'm very glad that they are maintained really really well.

Cheers,

David

Coulson is the new owner.

Here's a link to some VERY recent (yesterday) photos of a Mars:

http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187756

I had never even heard of these things until I started frequenting this forum; they're pretty cool!

Dave

Are those "forced air" cooling fans in the cowlings on the Mars? Seems like they'd need them running R-4360s at low altitude in hot air.

SN

Are they using the PB4Y's anymore?

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Steve - to the best of my knowledge the two existing Martin Mars aircraft are equipped with 3,000 HP Wright R-3350's.

According to the Mars book I have, they use R3350-24WAs which are rated at 2500HP.