Water bombers

Today I met the very cool BC fire & rescue water bomber crew at Penticton airport. They are placed here on standby each summer just waiting for the call.

The planes are Convair 440s built in 1953 as passenger planes, now stripped inside to the bone and a bladder tank fitted underneath to carry 8000 litres of water to drop onto the nearest forest fire. They have just returned from the fires in Alberta and spend their days preparing for the call. Each Wednesday they have a practice/training day in the air, now we are best friends, I might be allowed to tag along next week. I missed them yesterday by half an hour, darn it!