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Thursday 7 May 2009

That's Low.....

2 comments:

James Higham said...

Real?

steveH said...

That specific picture may be photoshopped, perhaps not, and if not, someone was using a very long telephoto lens.

Aero Union converted four P2Vs as Firestar water bombers, the one shown is ex-BuAer #140963, Tanker #16.

I know that I've seen firebombers out here (central coastal California) making runs like that. A forest fire in the hills west of our house, which was on a ridge overlooking Napa Valley, had S2 fire bombers sliding low overhead for two days back in the early '70s.

Then they brought in the big guys; a Consolidated PB4-Y and a DC-7C modified to carry a *lot* of retardant.

We watched them make their attacks below us, parallel to the ridgeline, then turning down into a canyon where heavy ground equipment couldn't operate. They'd disappear into the smoke, and eventually reappear further down turning out of the canyon to the south.

They do not get paid enough.