Driving the World's Largest Fire Engine!

[@MrHewes]

THIS COULD BE YOURS FOR JUST £25,000

[@TheTorkerman]

Shipping cost to Australia?? 😂

[@Savagetechie]

Bargain but it would cost a fortune to show unless you happen to live on a showground.

[@Tcuel]

So you bought it and gonna restore it? : P

[@NotALot-xm6gz]

Oddly enough, £25K is exactly how much it would cost me in diesel to drive it down to SW France.

[@MegaCj74]

I was really looking for a matching pair

[@stephenkidwell61]

6200 gallons of water, 515 gallon of AFFF foam, Each pump, pumps 1250 GPM, It will do 75 MPH down the runway, I know I've done it. Drove one while on active duty Air force. It was a sweet ride.

[@stephenkidwell61]

typo 6500 gallons of water

[@ReviewsAndHowTos]

​@@stephenkidwell61 I know there were two different tank sizes. But, I can't recall the sizes. It's been almost 20 years since I drove one, at McConnell AFB.

[@noahkleugh9323]

I was at Wurtsmith AFB, Mich with one of them critters.

[@stanislavczebinski994]

@@ReviewsAndHowTos AFAIK, 6000 gallons is the smaller (relative) 6-wheeled variant.

[@MrBonafida]

Designed for protection of air bases which flew B52 bombers. 56 were built. RAF Fairford and Mildenhall had the UK service ones. The civilian version was the M23. Boeing Seattle used 5 between 3 airfields. I was fortunate enough to have a chance to drive and operate the monitor on such an example when I was on a visit to Boeing in 1987.

YVR (Vancouver international Airport)had 3 of those

[@SOU6900]

Going to assume Seymour Johnson had these as well since they had BUFFs back in the day.

[@traceybonds8794]

Brilliant pedantry

[@markcowan9216]

I drove/crewed one when I was stationed at Torrejon AFB Spain 1983-86, most fun you could have on 8 wheels. Still have the technical manual from when I attended the Driver/Operators course for the P-15.(and the P-2 if you come across one of those, another cool Oshkosh)

[@MrBonafida]

@@markcowan9216 Wow. Please let me know if you ever want to part with it.

[@Robiam379]

There were 2 of these in the UK Number 7 was at Mildenhall and this one number 5 was based at RAF Fairford. There is a photo online of it at RAF Fairford in period.

[@Bierrr]

I've also found photo's online dated 2011 with to firemen on top of it, suggesting it was in use up until that point.

[@Robiam379]

@@Bierrr by 2011 it was at Bruntingthorpe (where it is today).

[@markclifton14]

That is one big fire engine. The fire service could do with these to tackle large factory fires. Joe I bet you would love to add this to your collection. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍😂

[@nilo70]

Will you paint it Red ? Cheers from California 😎

[@fredkarnak483]

it would be great for fighting bushfires !!!!

[@brianwillson9567]

Someone who enjoys what they do, never does a day's 'work'. What a life you have, playing with all these amazing bits of kit.

[@jstrat121]

Looks like he “works” every day to me !

[@sundance2005]

In American English: Amazing toys :-)

[@geoffrey6000]

You should turn the water tank into a one bedroom tiny house. That would be some Mad Max camping shit right there.

[@koalameat9523]

Tiny home , you could rent the cab out to a family of 6

[@willtricks9432]

10ft wide, 13ft tall, might need the Aussie Outback just for a three point turn.

[@Wilko601st]

Was thinking mad max myself

[@chrispiper6269]

🤣🤣🤣

[@mjjr1000]

Or the house that jack built

[@thomassilvernail3378]

Oshkosh A/S32 P-15 Reg# 80L 5W, 1980 model #5 in that group made in 1980, W means winterized, hence the booster heater, it keeps all the compartments from freezing, 6100 gallons of water, 515 gallons of AFFF concentrate, dual 1250 GPM pumps operated separately, each engine powers 1 pump, 600 or 1200 GPM from each turret, selector is on the control panel of the turret. Handline is 100 GPM. Always start the rear engine first, because if the gauges are not working, you have no way of knowing if it is running due to the noise from the front engine. The transmissions are syncronized so that they shift at the same time. The USAF had I think 62 built and the US Navy had 3. Some were moved from base to base as the years went by, so it is difficult to keep them straight. The biggest issue with them was when it broke down or needed servicing, it took the firefighting power down to below 50% of the requirements to allow flying, USAF Regulation. This is why they went back to the smaller P-23 and why the P-2 stayed in front line service from 1962 until after 2000.

[@Br0adster4]

I live 30 minutes north of Oshkosh Corp, and actually have a few fellow classmates that work in the engineering department. I will certainly reach out to them and see what i can make happen. Oshkosh has alway been a powerhouse when it comes to badass utilitarian, military, and public service vehicles.

[@jefferywhitmore737]

I was a driver and crew chief on the P-15's. there is a switch to isolate one drive drain from the other.It could make moving it around easier. Plus the rubber buttons on the left side of steering wheel are foe ether injectors. make starting it much easier.

[@kevinchamberlain7928]

Factoid: They once filled that thing in North Wales and it reduced the volume of the Irish sea by approximately 17.3%.

[@julianpritchard2558]

Valley?

[@I_Don_t_want_a_handle]

@@julianpritchard2558 Unknown but there is a welcome mat.

[@tup1967]

😂

[@adamhenry5791]

I remember seeing that on the news

[@kevinchamberlain7928]

@@adamhenry5791 I almost remember that.

[@TimMills-xi2ez]

Drove a smaller version on an air force base in West Australia (I'm an ex Gloucester Fireman who moved to Oz where I drove Thornycroft airport firetrucks at Perth airport before joining the WA Fire Brigade). I recognise the T shaped pressure control valve above the hose reel. That's used to prevent too much pressure knocking the hose reel operator off his feet. The valve suggests it is fitted with a pump made by Waterous, an American pump. Possibly a two stage centrifugal pump with a third high pressure impeller for the hose reel. The monitors (or cannon if you like) would be used with foam. You don't blast water at an aircraft fire but lob foam on to create a foam blanket. If it has foam in the tank (called AFFF, Aqueous Film Forming Foam) best avoid it and don't dump it. It's hugely carcinogenic and has contaminated ground water around airports and fire stations. Most was made by 3M. Many of us who wallowed in it are getting cancers and those that don't are being medically tested regularly. If you want to use the foam system you can get a training foam which is safer or just use a cheap detergent. Love your work. Oh yes, also they are built for charging in a straight line on airport runways and don't corner well, quite a few were rolled.

[@harleynarwhal]

Very well done to the camera lady for scrupulously avoiding getting the waste oil tray in shot that you were, no doubt, draining the diesel tank into.

[@Sarge084]

I once had a ride on an airport crash tender, they took use down the runway at great speed then applied the brakes to bring us to a rapid stop before we ran out of runway. This was at Benbecula Airport, a former Royal Air Force Coastal Command airfield, in the Outer Hebrides! The brakes on the tender were not in the wheel hubs, they were in the centre of the axle, they were bigger and beefier than standard brakes, and they were air cooled with forced air input.

[@valiantJager4502B]

strangely id quite like to see that thing restored... what a babe

[@samanthabaylis8967]

I've just come from a video where this amazing vechile is cleaned! Look up Partridge exterior Cleaning. His most recent video shows this beauty all cleaned up

[@SydneyCrowe]

Take it from a former USAF Firetruck mechanic (1981-1994), these were the bosses of flight-line/ramp firetrucks. The logistics alone just to house these things was immense. They could not fit into any firehouse, they had to have their own bay constructed to keep them from the weather. For the size they had they could go over 60 mph with full water and foam tanks (Been there, done that). To remove and/or replace a tire, you needed a 6K forklift at a minimum (10K with shiftable tines preferred). Initially they were heavy with TCTNO's (Time Compliance Technical Orders) due to the new fabrication. Ours at Torrejon was registration number 80L008. Meaning it was built in 1980 and the 8th shipped. It was air lifted from the US to Torrejon Spain on a C-5 (No other USAF aircraft would be able to ship it due to the size). It had "double" everything: engines, power dividers, transmissions, water pumps, foam pumps, turrets, transfer cases, booster heaters (Yeah, diesel flash heaters to keep the water in the 6K water tank from freezing). These things were the over-kill of the over-kill, but I loved it. There was nothing more invigorating than starting this thing up and hearing it shake the ground! If you need some more specs or info on this beast Mr. Hewes, let me know. Syd

[@oldmanwith]

So now you’re going into competition with @partridgeexteriorcleaning and you won’t even have to leave the yard!! Oh and I once flooded Mildenhall Air Base workshops with a Pierce Fire Tender (Pierce are the fire subsidiary of Oshkosh). I think that carried about 3000 gallons which I discovered can be “released” in about 20 seconds…….

[@nicolassales8679]

I flooded the workshop at Port Talbot steelworks when I lifted the skip on a 75ton dumper that had been sitting in the rain!

[@stephensmith4480]

The New York Fire Department had one called a Super Thumper, it was powered by Napier Deltic Engines. It was made to combat Sky Scraper fires as normal Fire tenders were just not powerful enough to get the Water high enough. It took several Water hydrants to keep it supplied and in turn it could supply I think it was 6 other Tenders while still performing it's own job.

[@larsbkurin1740]

What a perfect mechanical Lego. There should be a lot of information to be had from the USAF. Wiring diagrams and workshop manuals are usually saved/archived somewhere.

[@StevenG222]

Just what you need to clean up your tanks after a show or even before shipping them..you also won't have to wait for fire service to save your rims if your pops has another tractor fire!

[@gino2465]

I have worked on these 2 stroke engines in fact I did a course. Fantastic engine. They were fitted to javelin and meator airport fire tenders.

[@darrenbrown3362]

She's definitely a big girl. Will be nice to see all done up and in her sunday best. Would also be useful for hosing down the tanks and the yard outside the barn.

[@Ibis117]

Next level Aquablasting. Is a small village spoiling your view? No problem.

[@alexmilne7634]

We need to see more of this truck! Servicing, maintenance the lot! That is so cool!

[@bruceinaus]

Brilliant Joe, great video, I just did a community post on a smaller version of a truck like this made by the Walter Motor company, used as crash rescue truck in Australia, powered by only 1 rear mount 8v92t and only 4x4, all the best, Bruce

[@davidlyon1899]

Is your name really Bruce?

[@johnnunn8688]

@@davidlyon1899no, it’s the other, other Bruce.

[@Kaliaryanna]

Cool bit of kit. USAF vehicles tend to have stencils indicating what base they were at, that's what the AFE/RAFF stencil on the back end is. 'AFE' is 'Air Forces Europe', 'RAFF' is the station name. None of the other USAF bases begin with F so "RAFF" is probably RAF Fairford, where they had B-52s based.

[@Almightyrastus]

Somewhere in that beast's rev range it was hitting the resonant frequency of my bag of pork scratchings...

[@robertjohnstone3706]

Being an ex fireman the truck can go as fast as you want but when turning the water in the tank demands to keep going straight . So SLOW down before turning or landing on your side is a large possibility.

[@BushmansAdventures]

No tank baffles ?

[@christianfritz6333]

The answer is these trucks were built with a double redundancy system, one engine was plenty enough to move, or run the pump, and normally one did one job and one did the other. Both drivelines can be disabled and eighter can run the pump. I used to tow the airport engines back and forth from the airport to the service locations. The new ones are driven by hydraulics.

[@MitchSprague]

Seriously good option for nipping down to the village to run errands. They did a nice job cleaning up the Victor.

[@VetJim]

I served on this vehicle and operated the rear turret. USAF

[@rudy_ad]

Thank you keeping these alive. - Rudy

[@user-tn1vc1xz5d]

Although I'm not an American, I used to work at McMurdo in Antarctica. We had a vehicle called a Delta, named Ivan the Terrabus, used to get people off the planes landing on the ice shelf and get them to town. Fuelled by JP8. Caldey Island in Wales has an old twin V8 diesel M2 bridge carrier to get people off the boats at low tide. They used to use a Stolly.

[@johnshearer7706]

Of the many pieces of fire apparatus I drove/operated over 37 years, this was my favorite. There was also something pretty awesome when riding the front turret and cruising the Flightline at Edwards A.F.B. A highlite of my career.

[@peteredwards2318]

That thing is truly immense! It has a scale that confuses the eye!

[@wideyxyz2271]

Field repair. Exactly, you use whatever you have to hand to get it running. Brilliant video as always. And what a beast!

[@laurensa.1803]

I can smell the asbestos and chrome paint from behind my computer screen. What a piece of machinery...

[@timfagan816]

Andrew camarata desperately needed this!

[@zstation64]

"You should ring 911"...."I did, you're 911?!?" 😂

[@1701enter]

I watched that yesterday, and you are right!

[@plasmaDave]

​@@zstation64amazing and then he was told to hang up

[@timfagan816]

He's such a fly by night, and his work style is absolutely questionable. But I felt bad for him, losing that machine. No one deserves that!

[@BusterNoggins]

@@timfagan816 I'm still waiting for him to move into that castle he built.

[@MIK33EY]

My Dad was in the R.A.A.F. and I have vivid memories of going onto the base (Edinburgh Base in South Australia) with him on the weekends as a kid circa 1978. One of the highlights would be getting to watch the Base Fireries taking out their Osh-Kosh to practice putting out fires or run through exercises. Pretty sure they were the same Osh-Kosh as what you’ve got in this vid - they had two of them plus other Osh-Kosh vehicles, eg the 6x6 version. They were painted in a rather fetching green colour that in retrospect was probably early paint technology at making it fluorescent green. #memories

[@J3R1CH0Powering]

0:06 Took the words right out of my mouth

[@markkipling644]

Was Based at RAF Fairford, in the 1990s My Dad use to work in the fire department there and remembers it well.

[@P-J-W-777]

Those old Detroit 8V92 and 96 engines are great engines. Very reliable.

[@USMC1984]

I work on those old Detroit’s for years, the only problems we would have with them were always fuel related!

[@kehenabeach4418]

KT3406E proved Detroit’s can run on dirt & water!

[@lordcaptainvonthrust3rd]

I nearly bought one of these but my then wife wouldn't let me Mine would have been from Fort Lauderdale in the US and was a later model using twin Cat diesels and twin Allison transmissions And just one remotely operated water/foam cannon on the roof The seller was a dealer in the US and knows all about Aircraft Crash Rescue Tenders (proper name apparently) and assured me they're perfectly safe to use in a water fight against young children Very nice video Mr Hewes 👍

[@leeparker7194]

Perfect for the morning cuppa! Cracking start to the day. What a behemoth of a machine 💪

[@glynluff2595]

Chubbs built a massive series of fire engines in the seventies . They were not as large as your monster but not too far behind and were the only fire engine certifiable to extinguish a fire on Concord by themselves. In consequence every major airport which hoped to be available to Concord owned at least one one some, like Heathrow, several. They were massive vehicles and on my visit to the construction shop to collect parts for a refinery there were six I think, under construction.

[@somersethuscarl2938]

The pathfinder if I remember right. I have a model of one somewhere. A friend of my father's was one of the lead engineers for chubb at the time and I was allowed to climb aboard as a wee lad

[@glynluff2595]

@@somersethuscarl2938 That’s right. I had forgotten the name. We were very proud of it and at the time the monitor was the largest globally. We would fit those monitors on helicopter decks in the North Sea and down in The Gulf.

[@TechGameEras]

An amazing machine from the Oshkosh Corporation (from Oshkosh, Wisconsin!) the same city that hosts EAA AirVenture, Oshkosh.

[@MagiciansApprentice1]

It looks like a vehicle out of Thunderbirds.

[@stevenbarrett7648]

I was just going to post the same !

[@starcruiser9325]

I was thinking that too!

[@jenandsteve1999]

That beast needs a sticker saying ‘I identify as a T72!’ What a smoke screen

[@Ibis117]

Especially as it's had its turret "relocated".

[@GenX-jedi]

Sure I identify as a Thunderbirds rescue vehicle

[@emielkooij1698]

​@@GenX-jedi lol exacly what I was thinking. It's a Thunderbird vehicle scale 1:1

[@johnfisher9816]

No. 5, it's really from "The Thunderbirds"!!! Super cool machine, Joe. Cheers. John

[@philleeson7835]

Stationed at RAF Fairford, on the rear panel AFE/RAFF American Airforce Europe/Royal Air Force Fairford.

[@MC-nb6jx]

With all the different kit in the yard you should open up as a “working” museum 👌🏻👌🏻

[@juststeve5542]

"Working when we parked it" museum.

[@thelonemoomin]

Largest fire engine that creates its own fog bank. "Wheres the fire?" ..... "I have no idea.... we'll have to let the smoke clear first" 😂

[@andyrolland8693]

A quick Google shows a photo on Pinterest of No. 5 in service with USAF at RAF Fairford in 'late 1990s'.

[@juststeve5542]

I was thinking UK USAF base too... Nobody else is going to ship that thing over - or evidently, ship it back!

[@Robiam379]

Yes this one was RAF Fairford’s and No. 7 was RAF Mildenhall’s

[@desomeara5887]

I used to drive this machine when i was a Firefighter at Fairford back in the early 90's👍

[@diamondderek848]

I know Des Omeara and he was a driver of this in the 90s

[@danielclark8036]

@@desomeara5887 @MrHewes

[@JohnDavis-ed5sg]

What a machine! I suppose it doesn't need a huge fuel tank as it would be restricted to an airfield, and it can empty that 6000 gallons in 3 minutes. There is a legend for 'Power Divider Oil Pressure' on the dash, so I would guess that there is a hydraulic connection in the transfer box for the two powertrains, which would make sense as an inflexible mechanical connection could wind things up with dire consequences.

[@riggers6214]

Sifting through the other, 800 odd comments at the time, it appears there were only 2 of these units in the UK - 1 at Fairford, presumably to cope with any B52 incidents, and the other at Mildenhall, presumably to cope with any KC-135 incidents. What bl**dy amazing pieces of kit!!!

[@bristol2002]

i know of 2 at yourkshire fire musium

[@andywilliment581]

Hi Joe, great video. Now that would make cleaning the tank tracks a little easier. I’m pretty sure that AEC mammoth Major 3000 Gal bowser was one that used to be stationed out in Germany. 😎🇬🇧

[@Grimly-Fiendish116]

Gotta give that water cannon a blast !

[@peterlovett5841]

Now for the next amazing video we shall get the HP Victor running after 30 years of being idle. Why not, you got it half cleaned last time we saw it.

[@davelawrence4253]

My Friend Baz Lawrence, no relation, used to fly Victor tankers.

[@studonnachie4900]

HI she was at fairford as Crash 5 worked with her occasionally at I.A.T. awesome machine got some pics alongside one of our Carmichael MFV 'S which weighed in at 26.5 ton powered by a 8V92ta 14 litre v8 Detroit not much of a match though 🚒crackin vid Stu

[@n0bby_Barnden]

ThunderTeds Are GO!!

[@paristrout8469]

A couple ideas on what to do with it: 1) cut the water tank off, and mount a LARGE knuckle crane in its place. You might need outriggers too. 2) cut it in half, and you get 2! tank tugs. 3)You basically have 2 x HEMTT. I am sure you could hook a heavy duty recovery trailer to the front half and tow your tanks around. Thanks for all the great content.

[@RogerNorman-q6x]

You can understand why Jack didn’t come with you. He wouldn’t be able to reach the first step 😂😂

[@Jonny_The_Organism]

Jack can overcome that problem.... Jack has a secret weapon.... Jack has a skirting board ladder....

[@RogerNorman-q6x]

@@Jonny_The_Organism I’ve heard he’s also mastered the skills of buying tartan paint

[@ianb6595]

Obviously used on the American bases here probably late 70s- 80s for the big bombers that were around, I bet someone at mildenhall air base would know about them plus they will have similar size vehicles in use today, brilliant episode Mr Hewes and like your camera assistant you need anyone else as the quality was spot on, champion!

[@stewart9723]

That’s a BIG pressure washer lol👍 good for washing tanks !!

[@you-know-who.]

Brilliant idea

[@daca9907]

The transmissions are set up in the same way as scrapers. The front and rear engines throttle at the same time and the two transmissions are controlled in parallel,same gear same time and it power shares. The scrapers were slightly different as they had 2 throttle pedals and you could drift them by slipping your foot off the front engine pedal and round she would go

[@briansfattofitjourney2805]

Detroit diesel engines don’t run away, they overspeed. It’s the mechanics that run away…

[@robertporter7744]

64 p15s were built ,all for the USA , there are a few videos of them on yt

[@m2hmghb]

It's amazing how fast those things can go. They're made to put out cargo plane fires like a C5 galaxy or a C17 globemaster. Those planes carry a crap ton of fuel. Designation is the P-15.

[@martinsummers4305]

Ah up Joe....great video, that's a real beast...i have a International Harvester Paystar 6x6, with an 8v71N 2 stroke Detroit and the same gear box Allison HT 750 DRD. The Detroit boys get upset when people say there super charged....it is actually known as a blower because they only run at about 2psi above ambient air pressure, just to push air into the air box...as a 2 stroke. Hopefully get to a show next year with my truck when renovations are complete.....Love the videos mate ,keep it up, all the best!!

[@HashtagFelix]

best thing to see after waking up, grabbed a coffee and instantly get a new Mr Hewes video!

[@alankipling-pm2kg]

Your truck looks like the one we had at RAF Fairford going back to the early ninties 6100us gals of water and 515 us gal of foam compound, some photos are available on line they were used by the military and commercial airfields. they had to be driven almost every day otherwise the tyres would flat spot and driving was a nightmare until they warmed up. we had our own mechanics who primarily worked on all of the fire vehicle fleet. These were designed primarily as ARFF trucks for the large flat concrete and asphalt airfields. hope this helps

[@zeberdee1972]

That P-15 is huge , i believe there is a newer version thats very similar . Ascension Island had the newer version on the American side . How ever it had a few problems as its wheels could fall off over 30 mph and over a certain camber it would tip over . That much like the P-15 would airfield only . I never worked with American Fire trucks but i have seen a few . I think this one may have come from RAF Fairford but not sure .

[@Daniel-S1]

I had a ride in the RAF's smallest fire engine (Range Rover 6 wheeler) was I was on Ascension Island in 85/86. At that time the RAF didn't have anything powerful enough to spray foam onto the top of the BFI.

[@Firedad4132]

They are 6000 gallon water, 500 gallon foam, twin 1250gpm pumps, and 1200gpm turrets. The Detroit isn't technically "supercharged", but uses them as "scavenging" pumps.

[@willtricks9432]

The correct amount of awe and inquiry, no nettles were harmed in the making of this video.

[@Notta_Mechanic]

Around 10 years ago, a man not too far from my home purchased one of these exact units from a former U.S airforce base; where there is a purpose built garage to house the Oshkosh, located next to the much smaller main fire house. That being said, I believe he paid $10,000 for the truck plus imported it to Canada by literally driving it home. Sadly, They ended up scrapping the whole truck, reused the axles and the engines for another project. Was an epic sight to see that massive beast in person.

[@Leroy_____]

Love the purr of an old Detroit engine!

[@marklelohe3754]

Thunderbird 5 with nearly 27 tons of water! Should be repurposed to put out forest fires perhaps? Be interesting to see it working, but I guess that will be the objective? Another great vid.

[@Sir.Fisher]

I have a cunning plan ......... why dont you turn it into ..... the worlds largest .... FLAME THROWER :)

[@mcgherkinstudios]

That’s happened before, actually.

[@colintook3357]

I am sure a certain Mr Clarkson would be happy to bank roll that little plan.

[@thatoneguy4126]

Bro this brings back a core memory. I had a hot wheel of this and it was by far my favorite as a kid.

[@Albahills]

It looks like it is straight out of Thunderbirds. Another great video.

[@bigphillAchtung]

should also check out the FDNY Super Pumper, it used a Napier Deltic engine to run the water pump. Awesome engine for us geeks! :)

[@steveblanchard7293]

Would have loved to see the Oshcosh go down Brunti's main runway - that would bee awesome.

[@anthonyross9276]

8v's are great engines. I drove a 1980 peterbilt 359 with an 8v92. Loved it!

[@PhilipBloomfield-n6w]

Great video mate, always interesting stuff you bring to the channel, one question what going to happen to all the vehicles on that site you go to, will any be saved.

[@brand_b719]

These old usaf crash rescue trucks are some serious units. Love it!

[@SebastiaanKr]

Thunderbirds size 👍😍 A little Spitfire from the side . (Flash)

[@leenewman4344]

It actually has a greater turning circle than a long wheelbase classic Landrover. It's a great video Joe, I like the odd one here and there where you're messing with other stuff that's interesting in its own right!

[@stephan510]

looks like a good tool to clean a tank after a rainy day

[@captsam54]

I used to run a Pair of 18V92's in a 70' Sportfish boat that were DDEC engines.... Hated those things....

[@geoffrey6000]

I think Andrew Camarata needs to contact you about this beast, he could have used one of these a couple days ago....

[@turji]

He sure did, but it did happen way before he upploaded the video.

[@geoffrey6000]

@@turji yes, of course haha

[@johnniewelbornjr.8940]

Can't say much about these but Oshkosh has had a lot of equipment on flightlines over the years, the world over. Used to occasional haul the odd piece of equipment out of their plant but never got to haul one of these (I wouldn't have had enough axles to haul such weight anyway). Good stuff! :)

[@nitt3rz]

The NYC Fire department had a Napier Deltic 1800HP powered Super pumper. You've got the biggest airport fire-truck.

[@jimihendrix991]

...2400 hp at 1800 rpm... 😉

[@nitt3rz]

@@jimihendrix991 I got the numbers the wrong way round.

[@bert26a]

I'd love to see that restored properly. Transmissions on that beast are likely Allison Automatic, the U.S. Military used them heavily on their wheeled and tracked vehicle fleets. Being an ARFF vehicle ( Airport Rescue and Firefighting) it would also have a big tank for class B firefighting foam and possibly dry chemical like Purple K. I'm not sure when the dry chemical started being used but all current ARFF trucks use it.

[@paulmanson253]

Either buy a replacement fuel cap from the fuel tank manufacturer or get a local machine shop to make up what will fit the threads. Leaving the thing open for years is about as much fun as letting a Russian Roulette pistol rust. And then asking it to work right the first time.

[@firewalker1372]

The volunteer dept I was on, we purchased a Hemitt M978 which is very similar. Different between ours and this one. It only had one Detroit engine and it was a fuel hauler. We turned it into a water tender. Very fun truck to drive. Took a football field dang near to turn it around.

[@nnglnd]

I'd like the little fuel bowser truck next to it .

[@colinmiller5502]

That's an ex RAF 3000 gallon Leyland Bison

[@aserta]

While using it for its OG purpose wouldn't be economically feasible anymore (on account of having to basically dismantle it to pieces and rebuild it while bringing it up to spec to firefight), it would make a good field sprayer. Cleaned up, the alleged foam tank converted to water as well and you'd have a pretty big capacity and two big pea shooters to spray with. The nozzles would possibly need some modification, but that's not impossible. I used to know a farmer in Poland that had a firetruck as a backup for field duty, he sadly passed away, so no brain to pick at on how useful it would actually be. Regardless, neat unit.

[@johnd7288]

Now it's fireman Ted ! Great video again Ted !

[@MichaelGuerra-ex7uc]

Joe, this Oshkosh ARFF was probably used by the USAFF in the UK, but it was probably originally designed by Hiram B Hackenbacker to be carried in the pod of Thunderbird 2. It was the partner vehicle to the Firefly (also built by Oshkosh I seem to remember). Should be painted in Signal Yellow with a red stripe and with 'IR' in big black lettering on the side.

[@stuartdiprose8382]

Gotta love a v8 Detroit…

[@ashleywebster2659]

If you filled that thing up with water, you'd have the local water company out looking for the huge leak in their area! 🙂 Although having said that, I'd hate to think how much 6,000 gallons would cost on your water bill... For once, taking it down the fuel station wouldn't be your biggest running cost... Great vid, and a great thing to see back in full working order.

[@denis9450]

It deserves to be made mint

[@lenarmstrong4075]

Yes they still build them, but on a little smaller version ! as far as height wise, I have hauled a lot of these vehicles, both for civilian and military, very similar to the hemmit. I live about 45 miles from Oshkosh , they build all sorts of heavy vehicles, both for military and civilian use. But they really got more into the military side of vehicles