"Supertanker" in Shannon

Krusty

Hi all,
Saw this on the ramp at Shannon this morning. Thought it was the usual Evergreen 747 that passes through regularly these days..... except it had an unusual paint-job on the tail.

Turns out it's the 747 Supertanker - used for fighting fires!




The Evergreen site has loads of info on her. Some machine!

http://www.evergreenaviation.com/supertanker/whyst.html

therecklessone

Diverted into Shannon due sh1t weather at destination (Glasgow).

RuggieBear

should that not be over in South California

jmayo

I don't think the idea of using 747 for air tanker will ever really catch on, since not suitable for short possibly rough runways and also it mightn't have the slow flight capabilities of the old 1950s era airliners, like L-188 Electra or DC4 and old military aircarft dating back to WWII such as B26 Invaders ?

Also most firefighting is done in areas not near huge airports so you don't want something huge.
Then you are often having to fly low and slow in mountaineous areas, not something I would fancy doing in 747.

A good option to use for air tanker would be things like C130s. Surprised that they not more widely used.
But of course the Americans have to have the biggest for everything.
Saying that it must be fun strolling down the middle of that empty 747

Run_to_da_hills

jmayo wrote: »

I don't think the idea of using 747 for air tanker will ever really catch on, since not suitable for short possibly rough runways and also it mightn't have the slow flight capabilities of the old 1950s era airliners, like L-188 Electra or DC4 and old military aircarft dating back to WWII such as B26 Invaders ?

Also most firefighting is done in areas not near huge airports so you don't want something huge.
Then you are often having to fly low and slow in mountaineous areas, not something I would fancy doing in 747.

A good option to use for air tanker would be things like C130s. Surprised that they not more widely used.
But of course the Americans have to have the biggest for everything.
Saying that it must be fun strolling down the middle of that empty 747

It was in Shannon a few times, It would also have its uses with large scale urban pest control. The hull would would have to be divided into seperate compartments rather than have one big open tank for ballast.

jmayo

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

It was in Shannon a few times, It would also have its uses with large scale urban pest control. The hull would would have to be divided into seperate compartments rather than have one big open tank for ballast.

Yeah, the tanks are usually under the floor, well around where the baggae hold with normally be. Also they would be compartmentalised so that don't get weight shifts etc.
I was in one of Electras used for retardant dropping in BC, Canada.
The old airliners are used for retardant dropping rather than water bombing since it is easier and quicker to fill something like the CL215/CL415s running down a lake near the fire source.

It is really weird inside with only one row of seats and a coat rack in the old passenger compartment. Sadly they don't take non mission related people during their bombing runs

Sponge Bob

While The Evergreen Supertanker really _should_ be in California right now and not in Shannon it is _actually_ being deployed to Iraq in order to drop snow on some US Military bases there for Thanksgiving .

Troop Morale at these times is of great importance and there is nothing like a bit of snow to cheer the guys n gals up. Its going somewhere to be modded with snow machines first .

The Californians are not fighting for their country so they and their houses don't matter .

highlydebased

I read an article about the same aircraft recently. Its quite interesting......

There is also that DC10 that does firefighting, an ex Omni machine