1960s LOS ANGELES COUNTY FIRE FIGHTING AIRCRAFT VS. WILDFIRE FIREBRAKE RETARDANT DROPS SM10605

[@TheWeavingBagel]

Interesting choice to upload this video at this time

[@PeriscopeFilm]

@TheWeavingBagel we've been trying to preserve firefighting films for over a decade -- this one was given to us recently and seemed really appropriate to share as it shows pioneering efforts in aerial fire assault.

[@TheWeavingBagel]

@@PeriscopeFilm 👍

[@staubach1979rt]

@@PeriscopeFilmAny information on where this fire was?

[@PeriscopeFilm]

@staubach1979rt no we don't know much about the film -- other than what's in our description.

[@11secghia]

Thanks! I was an Aircraft mechanic on the helicopters for LAcounty fire!

[@karstendoerr5378]

It was recognized early on in the USA that firefighting from the air was necessary under the geographical conditions. In 1945, the School of Forestry at the University of California commissioned a study into the most effective way of dropping a water load from a fire-fighting aircraft onto a fire. They installed a water tank in the torpedo dropping device of a Grumman TBF Avenger. A pilot with an Avenger flew numerous practical tests and dropped water from different heights and at different wind speeds and directions (“Operation Firestop”). The results of the study were received worldwide. The Forestry Commission in California continued the tests. Here, on August 12, 1955, the world's first successful use of a Boeing Stearman Model 75 as a firefighting aircraft took place in the Mendocino National Forest. The aircraft could carry approx. 640 liters of water (170 gallons). Just one year later, seven firefighting aircraft were available here. Pure water, which was in danger of evaporating before it reached the source of the fire, was soon replaced by a mixture of water and chemicals.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

@karstendoerr5378 thanks for your informative comment and for being a channel sub!

[@crabbinmoose8583]

The white powder in bags being mixed with water that you see in this video is borax, a safe fire retardant that was used with water to treat areas in the burn path to reduce or eliminate the chance of embers starting more fires.

[@PasleyAviationPhotography]

Actual firefighting starts at 17:52

[@scepticalbeliever]

Timely

[@stevieraycharles1799]

TBF Avenger, PBY Catalina, B-25 Mitchell, Consolidated Privateer

[@eltamarindo]

Aviator Paul Mantz was a pioneer of low level aerial firefighting in California, using his converted torpedo bomber to make two drops on the Jamison Fire (near Lake Elsinore, CA) on September 1, 1954. A similar plane is seen at 17:50.

[@thehapagirl92]

And it’s still windy here in Southern California 😢

[@KingfishStevens-di9ji]

Clear the underbrush

[@Richard_K1630]

Good choice for the music.

[@skibee50]

12:00 OSHA cancerous ?

[@karstendoerr5378]

OSHA was only founded on April 28, 1971.

[@janetpearson1455]

not

[@SkyCamBU]

Wow! I had no idea they were doing this way back then! I need to rethink everything now.😂

[@jeshkam]

And now they have to use the 737 in socal...

[@mikeray1544]

When mem were Men and the sheep were scared- on time ....

[@KingfishStevens-di9ji]

The planes were scrapped and

[@billbright1755]

PB 4 Y 2 privateer

[@billbright1755]

CH 34 Able Dog

[@echo-909]

I generally really like the videos you put on here, but the background music you choose tends to become annoying really quickly and - in this case - is far too loud.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

@echo-909 too loud? With all due respect, perhaps you have never heard of a volume control?

[@michaelgilbert3713]

END the letter L end the letter G end the letter B end the letter T end the letter Q done thus JERUSALEM ISRAEL Annapolis MARYLAND

[@dongordon4464]

short - to me interesting story at Ryan Field Hemet California - 1966 maybe - I watched a TBF pilot on take off fold the landing gear, drop 8 to 10 inches and the lower drag enabled him to lift off just clear of a barbed wire fence

[@lordfarquad8918]

Not a DEI hire in site...

[@InvisibleWarrior279]

As someone who once lived in LA and truly understands the appeal; it is time to wake up and recognize that continuing to rebuild in these fire zones is hubris personified. But rebuild they will and whoever is around 30 years from now (if we haven’t managed to completely extinct ourselves by then), will be watching yet another round of this .. guaranteed 🤔🫠