While the prairies are suffering as a result of floods, here in BC we're preparing for forest fire season. For the last few days they've been training new pilots on the water bombers. I've had a good view of this as they've been doing it on the lake at Summerland. These photos I took a little north, overlooking Okanagan Mountain Park.
I tell you this is a tuff job. The real water bombers are stationed in Sproat lake in Port Alberni and there used to be more of them before they crashed in the Cameron Lake fire. My dad has been up in the port spruce goose spotter plane and he said it has cool!
-- Edited by 65sssd on Sunday 24th of April 2011 12:36:04 AM
Those are the Martin Mars bombers. They worked the Penticton fire of 1994, and it was impressive to watch them work. They need to skim the water for 6 - 8 kilometers to fill their tanks. The RCMP boats had a tough job keeping boaters away from the middle of the lake while these planes were working.
We sat on a friends deck near the marina while these planes were only a couple of hundred feet above us, gaining altitude for the next run.
I remember sitting on the side of the highway watching the Okanagan fire and the water bombers. It was pretty spectacular! Hopefully we wont have another eventful fire season again! Beautiful pictures!
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
Mikey on Ice Pilots went looking for a rare CL 215 water bomber down in Venezuela. Cool episode.
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
Not really sure why the Mars water bombers don't fall out of the sky, they are so big and seem to move so slow. That's the red and white ones in a previous post.
