Hobie writes:"did anyone notice the year of manufacture ??? .....
almost 50 years ago !
hobie ....."
The history of Aerial Firefighting in the U.S. is very interesting. When I started out as a seasonal worker while in College many years ago, I started out as a ground person actually out cutting fire line in Northern California. Steep, Rugged country. We were bombarded by B-17s, B-24s, TBMs, F7Fs, PBYs and other thing I didnt even know what they were. Then came Helicopter support which saved a lot of hiking for us as ground crews.
A lot of those old aircraft flew up until a few years ago. That coupled with the fact they ALL flew on Government Contract. It took a few accidents to phase out the oldest of them. The Government today still uses the Heavies on a Contract basis , but its now into newer aircraft and lots of Helicopters. Many of the Helicopters are also surplus military. All the Skycranes that you see had there roots with the CH-54. which was built for the Army by Sikorsky. Its now being built by Erickson and extremely popular. Many of the MIL aircraft were former Military and the Russians wrote the book on Heavy Helicopters..
California is the only state that I know of that uses their own aircraft besides contracting. They use the old Grumman S-2, although they have spent a ton to refurbish them. The UH-1 that they have for their helicopter work is really a fine machine.
http://www.fire.ca.gov/fireemergency...n/aviation.asp
Rumor control has it that some private companies may be coming out with an aerial tanker that will amaze the world. Im certain it will happen soon.
Either way, the old militarys will be flying for some time, they just will be newer than the ones I used to see....
As to this sad accident, I have seen no information as to what caused it. When its said and done Im sure the answer will be obvious, but I doubt that it will be because the Aircraft was over 50 years old.