Firefighting Air Tanker Historic Overview from 2010 - borate bomber B-17 airtanker firebomber

Here's a video we produced in 2010 to provide a quick overview of the colorful history of firefighting air tankers in the U.S. From tentative liquid drop methodology in the 1930s to Very Large Air Tankers (VLATs) including the DC-10 and 747, this entertaining program tells the story.
Enjoy, and please hit the Thumbs Up button. We appreciate it.
This video include footage originated by Airailimages.

[@blancolirio]

Thanks for posting this classic piece!

[@airailimages]

You are very welcome! And, by the way, thank you for your informative and analytical videos.

[@towcub]

Nice short at the end of a B-17 with gas turbines. Thanks for this video, got some cool old airplanes and good historical perspective!

[@airailimages]

You are very welcome. Thanks for watching.

[@joeschenk8400]

Lots of great airplanes and good history.

[@airailimages]

I've always had a deep interest in air tankers since I was a kid.

[@maxcleveland3446]

I remember visiting Jensen Field during my high school days and seeing Red's fleet of TBMs. Jensen Field is gone now, turned into tip-up warehouses. There is a good display of Red Jensen history in the lobby of Sac. Exec. airport.

[@airailimages]

I get the feeling Red Jensen needs to have his story documented. Sounds like quite a pioneer.

[@adriaanboogaard8571]

Great video. I enjoyed it a lot. Especially the older now rare Aircraft 😁

[@airailimages]

Many thanks!

[@markfrench8892]

I miss the good old days when Aero Union in Chico, California used B-17s for fire fighting. It just happened that the landing pattern for the airport was right over my house. You could hear those B-17s for miles before they came over. I also spent plenty of time at the airport before and during the fire season.

[@airailimages]

Yes, good memories. I went to Wenatchee whenever I could to see B-17s, Privateers, and more.

[@fourfortyroadrunner6701]

I vaguely remember visiting the smoke jumper school in ?Missoula? when I was quite young. Back there there were some Ford trimotors, bright orange wingtips.. Around the E WA / N Idaho area there was a PBY for decades. My understanding, is that it met a very sad ending as a movie airplane, flooded in the sea in FL? Sad and anger. There was a story floating around about a guy I went to school with, son of a local famous photographer. They nicknamed the son "free fall Hall" after he'd forgotten his static line on a jump. "Free Fall" passed not long ago. I am also sorry to see the end of the Martin Mars.

[@airailimages]

Sounds like you have a lot of good memories from around the Northwest. Yes, smokejumper school in Missoula, back in the day Ford trimotors there too. And a PBY-6A Catalina operated for many years on Washington state firefighting contract out of Deer Park. PBY Lost on the movie shoot. Here's a link to video we shot of that Catalina departing Nampa, Idaho, en route to the movie shoot in 2015: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y2ataqSnmMmXb5o

[@Chilly_Billy]

That was a really good presentation. Not only the aircraft images and video, but the historical information as well. 👍

[@airailimages]

Many thanks!

[@tgmccoy1556]

Thanks great history

[@airailimages]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@w6krg]

Interesting. We've got a rather extensive Forest Service tanker facility at the airport here in Prescott AZ. The large DC-10 tanker has to fly out of Mesa Gateway Airport, S/E of Phoenix.

[@airailimages]

Next time I am in Prescott I'll have to visit the airport.

[@timb3499]

No S-2 footage?

[@USApatriotLarry]

At 5:19 you mention a B-29 while showing a B-17G.

[@airailimages]

The photo was taken of the P-47 in the foreground with the USFS badge on it. The B-17 on the ramp in the distance is unrelated.