Someone sent me a copy of an article from the American Aviation Historical Society Journal (AAHS) from Fall 1964 (Voume 9, #3) by William T, Larkins, Forest Fire Air Attack System (155-170). It is a wonderful article full of well researched information and facts about the development of aerial wildland firefighting as well as the type of airplanes that were being used as air tankers at the time. One of the gems of this article is a list of Air Tankers with registration and serial numbers) use by some of the US Forest Service Regions in the 1963 fire season. I don't know where you can find a copy on the internet, perhaps you can purchase a back issue from the AAHS or if you are lucky, perhaps your local library can get you a copy (perhaps for a charge).
I spent some time with this list, pulling out some registration numbers (aka bureau numbers), went to the
Warbird Registry website, to give you some history and a photo, of a few of the TBM Avengers that were used during that 1963 fire season. Note that the date of last info given on the registry page for each aircraft.
- 85715, flew as tanker #E36 (later (#E27).
- 53200, flew as tanker #D6.
- 53697, flew as tanker #E46.
- 53454, flew as tanker #D13.
- 85869, flew as tanker #C3 (later #E39, #C39).
- 86280, flew as tanker #C50.
Enjoy!
3 comments:
Thanks, Tyler. Great information on TBMs in fire service. I photographed most of these in 60s and early 70s. You're right - Bill Larkins 1964 article still reveals many "gems" nearly 50 years later. You probably correspond with Bill already, but if not, shoot me a note and I'll send you his e-mail. Thanks again.
Thanks Steve. No, I have not had the privilege of corresponding with Bill Larkins.
Phil, thanks for your information about where you think the photo of Bu.53200 in the warbirds registry was taken! I appreciate it.
For those of you who are interested, a few days ago, I wrote two more articles on this blog on Bu.53200 aka N90101C and CGLEL. Unfortunately, I can't link to these articles through this comment, but I wrote the first article on Oct. 14, 2011 with second article following on Oct. 17, 2011.
Tyler
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