water bombers

[Stew Hicks]

> Kelowna residents had quite an demonstration of fire bomber pilot skills.
> Here are some good pics. of the Mars Martin and Canadair bombers at work
on
> the pick-up end.
>
I'll try again. Go to "castanet.net", Photo gallery and newest pictures.

[Morgans]

"Ed Wischmeyer" > wrote in message
...
> > > Kelowna residents had quite an demonstration of fire bomber pilot
skills.
> > > Here are some good pics. of the Mars Martin and Canadair bombers at
work
> > on
> > > the pick-up end.
> > >
> > I'll try again. Go to "castanet.net", Photo gallery and newest
pictures.
>
> http://www.castanet.net/firepics/Newest%20Pictures/index.html
>
> Some of these are pretty interesting!
>
> Ed Wischmeyer

A friend of mine was instrumental in lobbying the NC legislature to get a
CL-215 water bomber, and had a video tape of them doing practice pickups and
drops. Very impressive. They can pick up 1200 gallons of water in
something like 8 seconds. The scoop is only something like 4" x 8". They
pick up at 100 knots.

The pictures on the site are of (I think the number is) 415's, which are
215's with turboprops, bigger water tanks, and a bit of tail feather added,
plus a few other changes.

The amazing thing is that those planes, as big as they are, are pure cable
controlled, (Boost Tabs) except for flaps. The fly like fighters, banking in
and out of water pickup sites.
--
Jim in NC

[Darrel Toepfer]

"Ed Wischmeyer" > wrote...
>
> > The amazing thing is that those planes, as big as they are, are pure
cable
> > controlled, (Boost Tabs) except for flaps. The fly like fighters,
banking in
> > and out of water pickup sites.
>
> IIRC, DC-9s and MD-80s are all cable, except for hydraulics to the
> rudder. One joke is that the "DC" stands for "direct cable." Thought the
> tabs were called servo tabs, not boost tabs...

Apparently the Martin Mars (the 4 engine red and white jobbies) are float
only and not amphib...

The history of them is available here:
http://www.martinmars.com
http://www.vectorsite.net/avmars.html
http://www.jimmyhoward.com/Martin-Mars-history.shtml