With so many people in the United States and Canada being affected by the wildfires and wildfire smoke over the course of the last couple of days, I thought it would be topical to bring up how a handful of B-17s were converted into aerial tankers to fight wildfires after WWII.
“Between 1960 and 1980, twenty-three B-17s were converted into air tankers by four different companies. Unfortunately, flying an air tanker is risky business. During that period, 35% of the B-17 air tankers were lost fighting fires.” (Source: article linked below)
Highly recommend checking out this article on the topic by John Yount, an aerial firefighter who during his almost 50 year long career had flown the B-17 firebomber in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
There’s a bunch of pictures and a handful of videos you can find online of B-17s fighting fires during this era. They’re all super interesting and very cool to see.
And you might not recognize her, but the aircraft in the image above is Sentimental Journey, one of the last remaining flightworthy B-17 Flying Fortresses. She had been employed by the Aero Union Corp of Chico California as what they called a “firebomber” during 1960's. She was later restored back to her original form and is now a staple aircraft of the Commemorative Air Force.
