Fire Suppression - Boomer's , Heli's , Tanker's , Trucks, ect

[jackd]

I heard that these engines weren't such a wonderful deal after all. It would seem that some unscrupulous engine overhaul contractor down in the states had bid on the job to rebuild these engines just before the Mars went out of service - knowing full well that these engines would not be going into service. When some of these 'overhauled' engines were put on wing, they wouldn't last a day. Luckily Standard Aero in Winnipeg was gearing up to do the Wright 3350's for the Canadair Argus which was going into service at the time. The FIFT 3350's were slotted into the assembly line alongside the Turbo-compound beasts from the Argus and when they opened them up they found very low quality work - yes they were painted on the outside but little else was done. I read somewhere that the engine case line up dowels were peened over because they used hammers to put the engines together. Oh they looked good from the outside.....

When the Argus was being retired in the early '80s, Bristol did a last big run of overhauls before they shut down the maintenance line. I heard for the maintenance guys at FIFT back several years ago, that an engine that they put on wing didn't last a day because someone left a loose nut inside the induction section and the supercharger impeller sent it right through the side case. Another great story was how they were destroying those Curtis prop blades during early service with FIFT. The prop blades had a rubber vibration damper bonded inside the blade - they kept finding rubber being extruded from the blade end drain holes which meant the rubber was disbonding. A real head scratcher this one was and they were going through blades big time. One day some old bugger drives up - some retired maintenance engineer who worked on the Mars back in US Navy service. They picked his brain and explained their problem with the props and he asked what max RPM they were running them at. They replied with some number and he responded with no wonder this was happening - you're running the props too fast, bring them down a bit. They took his suggestion and the prop issue went away.

I'm not sure where I'm getting this from, but I believe this is all true. It could have been gleened from maintenance guys over a beer at the West Bay or from my old pal. If anyone knows more than me, go right ahead and chime in.

 

[trakloader]

Interesting stuff, jackd! Keep it coming!

 

[jackd]

I'll post some modern day Mars shots and tell a few more lies later on. Someone else can have a turn.

 

[Vigilant]

Ah, the Columbus Day Storm of 1962. I was 6 years old when it hit Aberdeen, and I still recall it. My dad worked the blowdown for quite some time after that. I wish I had just a nickel for every time I heard that word 'blowdown'. Interesting to hear about Caroline and her unfortunate demise from the same storm. Thanks.

 

[jackd]

I remember the aftermath of the storm as well - and I was 5 years old up in Port Alberni. My Dad took us over to the south side of Stirling Arm on Sproat Lake. I remember a huge stand of first growth that was blown down - my guess would be around Branch 301 or 302. I remember walking for quite the distance on these huge blowdown firs and hemlocks - endless expanse of uprooted trees. We walked quite the distance and our feet never touched the ground.

 

[Knocker of rock]

I remember the aftermath of the storm as well - and I was 5 years old up in Port Alberni

Ah, the Columbus Day Storm of 1962. I was 6 years old when it hit Aberdeen, and I still recall it

Good gawd, you guys are old old old. I was only two.

 

[Vigilant]

I remember the aftermath of the storm as well - and I was 5 years old up in Port Alberni. My Dad took us over to the south side of Stirling Arm on Sproat Lake. I remember a huge stand of first growth that was blown down - my guess would be around Branch 301 or 302. I remember walking for quite the distance on these huge blowdown firs and hemlocks - endless expanse of uprooted trees. We walked quite the distance and our feet never touched the ground.

My late father told me in recent years that, in all the time Weyco Twin Harbors spent salvaging that mess, their safety record was outstanding. Far better than upper management had anticipated. Why? Plain and simple, because of the quality of people who did the work. Those were the days.

 

[Vigilant]

Shortly before that storm, I was bound and determined to top my first tree, at age 6. I shinnied up about a 10" dbh alder with my dad's handsaw and my cowboy gun belt for a climbing belt, and started sawing limbs off. Fortunately I had the foresight to leave about an 8 inch nub at each limb, with the plan to finish the job on the way down. I was a good 35-40 feet in the air when I started working on the top. I made the undercut, and had just started on the back cut when I heard my mother yell at me to stop, and get down out of that tree NOW. I was quite sure that 'now' meant after I completed my mission. So I kept sawing. Well, moms have a way of imposing their will on a kid in such situations, and with no more than about an inch of wood holding, I finally complied, and began my reluctant descent. Of course, I heard the usual "Wait until your father gets home", but when Dad got home and she told him what I had tried to do, all he could do was laugh. Every morning after that, when I went outside, I looked to see if that top had fallen yet. No dice, until....... the Columbus Day Storm.

 

[Vigilant]

Good gawd, you guys are old old old. I was only two.

Careful with that old stuff, you young whippersnapper. ROFL.

 

[Hayesno1]

Some pics I shot in 2010 at the shop/ramp. Look how small the Kenworth fuel tanker is compared to the Mars. The 2 old blue IH truck are maintanence trucks. See the IH at left - "Donald Duck" - it got a platform that can be raised so maintanence crew can work on engines under the huge cover. I have a picture somewhere with raised platform. But finding that picture will take quite a time as I got 55-60.000 pictures. They have an old Coleman truck as well. I think they use it for pulling the Mars up and down the ramp. I went to the museum this summer but it was it bit to early. They had not opened for the season. Great museum - visit worthy and I got the book there back in 2010.

 

[Hayesno1]

A few pics of a Hayes Clipper 200 water truck. It was North of Merritt in summer 2005 and were using a small heli to dump water. See at right side of truck - some kind of "container" filled with water. Truck even got a flat tire. Smoke pics are from same day taken in Fraser Valley, scarry but beautiful as well.

 

[Knocker of rock]

Smoke pics are from same day taken in Fraser Valley, scarry but beautiful as well.

I think the whole system from Hope to past Lilloeet and Cache Creek up to Quesnell is some of the coolest country on earth. I am particularly fond of the massive arid Fraser Valley from Lytton to Liloeet, with scree and talus slopes that go on forever.

 

[Born2clearcut]

Marianas Mars

These pictures seem to be taken at the same time and place as tracloaders pictures in post #31 but taken by differant people . Note they have started to paint the top of the wings from fuselage to outboard motors white

 

[trakloader]

I agree, looks almost the same as my pics! LOL! Since BCFP, MB & PR, WFI, etc. were involved in FIFT, it seems likely that big shots from all the companies were at this event. Seems to have been a demo for the big shots, huh? If you look closely at one of my pics you can see that the upper wing is painted white, as well. It is a strange feeling looking at these pics, knowing what happened to that plane not long after the pics were taken.

 

[trakloader]

wonder if the dude in the suit was the guy who took my pics.

 

[jackd]

From the perspective of ease of access and safety, if the Marianas was sitting on the water and they decided to throw some cooling white paint over the centre section, it would seem natural to only paint that section white. By keeping to that area there was no need to mask off the lower areas of the fuselage to prevent those nasty drips. You could have had the whole area done in a couple of hours with a roller (I've seen it done) and nobody would have landed in the drink!

I heard a story of when they did a re-paint on the Hawaii or Phillipine back in the '80s/'90s - this was the time when they introduced the thin red cheat line just above the solid red fuselage painted areas. For some reason they decided to do some of the prep, while she was moored out on the lake. Paint stripper in hand - and this is the noxious aircraft quality stuff - they applied it from the floating work platform. Under the faded exterior red and white were the original navy colours - I remember seeing parts of the aircraft being down to the aluminum/zinc chromate primer as they progressed. This wasn't the brightest thing to do as the active ingredients in the stripper were very toxic and the lake is a water source for most of the residents. Fisheries got involved and I imagine that the work process was stopped quickly and I suspect that hands were slapped.

 

[Jim D]

Born2clearcut, (I've been following the thread.) Thank you for the pictures and history!

 

[Jim D]

Hayesno1, Thank you for the 'red and white' photos; I'm sure that there are many readers who appreciate what they are!

 

[Murk100]

A few of my favorite water Bomber shots

 

[Born2clearcut]

Most of my older pictures have been sitting in a box in slide format for the last 50 years or so , if it wasn't for Heavy Equipment forums it could be another 50 years or more . Tracloader i would agree it was some kind of demo for all the big wig's to show them what the Mar's bombers could do , and what a show it would have been to see . These picture are of the Marianas Mars in 1960 doing another fly -by drop .