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These A/C normally drop long term fire retardant slurry. It is mixed and loaded at a fix wing base (airport). I saw 4 A-26's do a practice drop at Loon River Airstrip in Northern Alberta about 15 yrs ago. They belonged to Conair Aviation based in BC. It is my understanding that that was the last fire season Conair was operating A26's. Ontario operated 6 Trackers in the mid 70's in the same role. They were sold to Saskatchewan and Ontario focused on straight water delivery. Twin Otters and Canso's which have been replaced with Canadair CL215's and now turbine powered 415's.

Early in my career with Ontario MNR I worked a fire north of Thunder Bay where we had some long term retardant drops made by a TBM Avenger. Avengers were used extensively for bud worm spraying in New Brunswick. Those were the days of round engined A/C burning high octane avgas.
 
The water bombers were probably A26 Invaders built by Douglas as opposed to the B26 Marauders built by Martin. Totally different aircraft but if memory serves me right the Invader may also have been designated as "B26" at one time. I seem to recall reading that early Marauders had a lot of training accidents and were considered "too hot to handle" for low time pilots but went on to have the lowest loss rate of any medium bomber in the European theatre and were well liked by their crews.
A26's were optimized for ground attack so would fit in well with their later use as water bombers. Last use in combat might have been the Bay of Pigs, don't know if they made it to Vietnam or one of those little Central American border wars.
 
They did use the A26 in Viet Nam and surrounding areas. I believe some were still being used by Brazil in the late nineties. I saw a bunch of them there on a parkway in ready mode in 1976

Tonight on the evening news there was a film clip of an A26 dropping retardent around Cache Creek
 
The ruined church at Montfaucon-d'Argonne:

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Discussion of it on "The Great War" YouTube channel:


The tall(ish) rectangular structure in the centre left of the ruins, isn't actually part of the ruin. After the town was razed during the initial phases of the war, the Germans built the tower out of scattered bricks from the ruins, a few bricks at a time at night over a span of a couple weeks, to resemble a part of the ruins. It is in fact an observation post and machine gun nest, that was concealed in plain sight well enough that it escaped notice for the duration of the war and was never shelled.

Montfaucon-d'Argonne was situated on top of a hill with a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside. So spectacular, in fact, that it was conquered and razed to the ground by various armies 8 times over the centuries. After WWI, when the residents returned, they gave up on the view and rebuilt the town in the valley instead.
 
Just back tracking a bit to the A26 Invader. I have long wondered what became of the A26 sitting on the warehouse roof and very visible form the 401 in Oshawa, seems its getting restored to static display but I am having no luck on finding a site on the work.


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diopter said:
Apparently South Dakota
https://www.flickr.com/photos/78215847@N00/5329178934/in/photostream/
http://www.warbirdregistry.org/a26registry/a26-4434659.html
Click to expand...

thanks for the update, I have tried before to find any updates on this plane. I was there when they took it off the building and when they were working on taking the wings off for transporting it. Was it ever a mess inside from all the bird crap over the years. It was about 1-2 feet thick in the bottom and had deteriorated the aluminum enough on the belly that it caved in the bottom when it was set on the ground. Still very cool to see it up close on the ground after seeing it for so many years up there.
 
Proving the old axiom "If you're useful, you'll be retained", there seem to be a LOT of A-26/B-26 Invaders around:

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/a26registry/a26registry.html

Many fly. I wonder if anyone's ever thought of a turboprop conversion. The OnMark Marksman was pressurized, so the airframe seems open to suggestions...

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Just the thing for the up-and-coming fast-travelling crooked southern congressman or "Recreational Vegetable Matter International Relocation Specialist".
 
^ Not only are they an odd looking duck but also odd sounding, the RCMP used to fly them in and out of Ottawa and you knew what it was by the sound long before seeing it.
 
Nothing is new, not even spooky lookin' Italian pusher aircraft. Behole, the Curtiss Ascender:

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Something of an underpowered failure, sadly.

[youtube]ai6SZHcLrVM[/youtube]

Three built. One survives at the Air Zoo, courtesy of the folks at the Smithsonian.

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A little bit lower and slower...

The Soviet MBV-2 Armoured train.

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Developped in the late 30's, 2 were built and used throughout the war. The guns were progressively upgraded, and one is on display at the Kubinka Tank Museum:

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When the train absolutely, positively, has to make it on time... MBV-2. Accept no substitute.
 
There was a period there when everyone had armoured trains. It was a fad, like Beatle boots or man buns. Never understood the effectiveness of it. Seems to me you blow the tracks while the train's ten miles off. When the thing derails, call in airpower. Trains are mightily vulnerable...

http://2.bp.########.com/-VgzNosqka90/VdtheLoyf0I/AAAAAAAAfqQ/l3Kj7aYyU4M/s1600/%25D0%259D%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BC%25D0%25B5%25D1%2586%25D0%25BA%25D0%25B8%25D0%25B9%2B%25D1%2582%25D1%258F%25D0%25B3%25D0%25B0%25D1%2587%2BSd.Kfz.9%2B%25D0%25BF%25D1%2580%25D0%25BE%25D0%25B8%25D0%25B7%25D0%25B2%25D0%25BE%25D0%25B4%25D0%25B8%25D1%2582%2B%25D1%258D%25D0%25B2%25D0%25B0%25D0%25BA%25D1%2583%25D0%25B0%25D1%2586%25D0%25B8%25D1%258E%2B%25D0%25B8%25D1%2581%25D1%2582%25D1%2580%25D0%25B5%25D0%25B1%25D0%25B8%25D1%2582%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BB%25D1%258F%2BBf.109E%252C%2B%25D1%2581%25D0%25B5%25D0%25B2%25D1%2588%25D0%25B5%25D0%25B3%25D0%25BE%2B%25D0%25BD%25D0%25B0%2B%25D0%25B2%25D1%258B%25D0%25BD%25D1%2583%25D0%25B6%25D0%25B4%25D0%25B5%25D0%25BD%25D0%25BD%25D1%2583%25D1%258E%2B%25D0%25BF%25D0%25BE%25D1%2581%25D0%25B0%25D0%25B4%25D0%25BA%25D1%2583.jpeg

"OK, Dieter - the chains are on. Now we see if we can pull it fast enough to fly it like a kite..."
 
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