A bit of aerial firefighting history: TBM Avenger air tanker arrives in Missoula

The other day, I read with interest Bill Gabbert's (of Wildfire Today) article on new and old tankers. He wrote about a drop that Neptune Aviation's new jet tanker, T-40 made on a fire in Texas, including a picture. But, it was his reporting on TBM Avenger Air Tanker (T-13) arrival at the Museum of Mountain Flying in Missoula Montana on Oct. 10 that caught my eye. Bill referenced two articles from the Missoulian, one on  Oct. 8 and another on Oct. 10, at the same time a friend of mine referred me to the Oct. 10 Missoulian article. The byline on both articles is Kim Briggeman.

Simply, the Museum of Mountain Flying was able to secure funding to purchase TBM Avenger T-13, from Forest Protection Limited. She arrived with great fanfare in Missoula on Oct. 10 after a three day flight from New Brunswick, Canada.

I went and read the articles on the Missoulian website, and I hope you will too. Reading the article, I found out that T-13 was a part of Johnson Flying Service's fleet of tankers, flying as tanker A-13. You can read about this history of Missoulia International Airport operations including the Johnson Flying Service here. Johnson Flying Service was based in Missoula and sold A-13 along with five other Avengers to Forest Protection Limited of New Brunswick, Canada in 1974 where she flew as a fire bomber and spraying insects.

Among the interesting pieces of "trivia" that I learned from the Oct. 10th article was that Johnson's six Avengers did spraying in Maine in 1973. This interested me because I used to spend summer vacations camping on the Maine coast as a youth in the 1960s through 1970 and again a couple of trips to the same camping spot in the late 1970s. I had this idea as a youth that airplanes were used to spray for insects. I have no clue where the Avengers sprayed in 1973, perhaps they sprayed in the northern Maine forests. I have no clue if the Avengers sprayed on the Maine coast (for Mosquitos??). But, where ever they were, I rather enjoy the image of these Avengers spraying in Maine in 1973.  I wasn't in Maine that summer, but that doesn't seem to matter.

What came across to me through reading the reporting of Kim Briggeman in the Missoulian is that "A-13" is loved in Missoula. I feel a sort of bond with "A-13" and the other Johnson TBMs because they flew in Maine at least one summer.

But I also know that "A-13" flew for Forest Protection Limited (FPL) for thirty plus years under registration number C-GLEL, tanker 13. In my article on October 17, I'll write more about her history including her military service and her years with FPL. Stay tuned