Fight fire with.. a Gunship?

Real World Aviation
#1

Probably one of the coolest type rating ever is the Bell 209. The Bell 209, originally developed from the UH1 began its life as the AH1 Cobra. A US Army gunship serving in Vietnam. The AH1 still serves the Marines today, but… it also is used for fire fighting. There are a fleet of Bell 209s used by California to spot out fires.

image

One of the coolest things I just learned is the 209 with a tank!

image
196E3975-25B2-483E-A26B-712D22229410.jpeg1080×1080 221 KB

Originally built by the Florida DOF, this program was design to use Cobras to fight fires. Florida added a 400 Gallon tank and tested it out on fires. Though Bell supported this idea our friendly Feds did not. At the end the Feds declined this action though the blades are from a Bell 214ST, it’s a UH1 design. To this day Cobras cannot sling load or drop water. This has been your super cool aviation fire history!

10 Likes
#2

Man Helicopters that cut trees. now this and this is actually cool

1 Like
#3

They should stick the hose into the front gun turret, then you can accurately shoot water at and fight remote small bush fires.

2 Likes
#4

I knew Cal had cobras but a tank is super sweet lol

1 Like
#5

Funny you mention this - The Russian KA32 and the Skycrane can actually do this! When Evergreen was a thing the CEO predicted in the future we have high buildings and needed helicopter with hoses on the front to help combat fires. Bell and everyone said he was crazy’s

1 Like
#6

They always said fight fire with fire. In this case, its fight fire with a freaking attack helicopter.

You mean the guys who worked with the CIA?

2 Likes
#7

Cal = California

1 Like
#8

Talking about the former airline. The one in Oregon, not the fire one.

#9

Evergreen yes, they had a ton of cool top secret squirrel jobs

#10

Right in the first paragraph.

1 Like
#11

The title of this topic got me thinking of how our military here in Sweden stopped the spreading of some massive wildfires last year - by dropping 270kg bombs from a couple of Saab J-39 Gripen…

3 Likes
#12

Oh I know who Evergreen is I know one of their Chief Pilots and my company owns one of their hangars lol

#13

I remember that! Now I don’t recall if it worked but still was awesome reading

#14

That’s like saying that the Russians stopped a fire by dropping NAPALM on it. But now that I think, I guess blowing up the land would halt the fire from spreading.

So I will name this an Only in Sweden situation.

1 Like
#15

It worked. It took care of the fire from a radius of 100 meters.

Not very effective in terms of putting a larger area out, but the goal was to limit the spread.

2 Likes
#16

I wonder what would happen if they dropped a nuke or a MOAB on a fire. I will buy you a new Harley Davidson and then ship it to Sweden if that ever happens.

Please note that I am joking. I cannot even afford a month of pro.

1 Like
#17

Easier ways but I think the commander wanted have fun, we did some legit control burns this year basically napalm in a ping pong ball was dropped from our helicopters which would cause fires, every pre caution steps were taken it’s really cool the science behind control fires.

1 Like
#18

Try bringing that to your next Nerf War.

1 Like
#19

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.