P-47N Thunderbolt as test firefighting aircraft ; Italeri ; 1/72
Historical background to the project
A few weeks ago, during a discussion in a group of modellers making model firefighting aircraft, it was reported that tests had once been conducted to use the P-47 for firefighting. A sensation for me! I started looking for more details on the Internet and found 2 or 3 articles confirming that in 1947, fire bombing tests were conducted in Montana using P-47s and B-29s. 165-gallon auxiliary fuel tanks for the P-47s were used as carriers of the extinguishing agent. Both airdrops involving simple ejection of the water tanks (as empty tanks were ejected) and dive bombing were tried - in last case tanks fitted with stabilisers and small explosive charges designed to increase the spray of the extinguishing agent were used. Despite positive test results (especially for airdrops from the P-47N), this method was ultimately not implemented into normal firefighting procedures.
P-47N aircraft
The last version of the largest single-engine fighter of World War II. The N version was designed specifically for the long-range flights (range of over 3,000 km!) necessary for effective operations in the Pacific. Its production began in mid-1944.
Plane 44-89308
In 1947 a brand-new aircraft, along with a second P-47N (unfortunately I don't know its number and I regret it because it 100% wore the U.S. Forest Service logo on the engine canopy) and one B-29, was assigned to participate in the U.S. Forest Service test program. The purpose of the tests conducted in Montana was to test the effectiveness of firefighting using ‘bombs' with extinguishing agent built on the basis of additional P-47 under-wing tanks. Interestingly, the fact that fires could be started using them had been proven a few years earlier by dropping the same tanks filled with ... napalm. Available archive photos show that the aircraft had the guns removed, but still had the rocket guides.
Model
I used the Italeri kit as my basis. The main reasons were: aftermarket availability (shops are full of P-47s, but in versions other than N and this one had, among other things, a changed wing shape) and the presence of tanks and bombs in the kit. The fit of the model is not too bad apart from the disastrous fit of the centreplane to the bottom of the fuselage. I estimate that about 10-15% of the time spent on the project went into fitting these elements. The model itself is almost ‘straight out of the box' - I replaced the engine with a resin one, combined the kit bombs and tanks into tanks with stabilisers and detonators and added literally a few details mainly in the cockpit and undercarriage hatches. I also had to develop my decals with serial numbers.
Very nice and cool back story
Thanks 🙂
Bravo, this is an excellent model and also with a nice story behind. I learned something new today.
Thank you!
It's amazing the things you can discover while building kits! Very cool.
Very often first is a piece of information (photo, sentence of quora, etc.) and if I find a bit more data (and base for model 😉 ) I'm trying to do something "not out of the box" 😉
Great subject and great result. The photography is wonderful.
thanks. To be honest - this time I asked my friend to make some photos for me. It was worth 🙂
Excellent build and a really wonderful subject, Konrad!
Congratulations!
Thank you 🙂
A very interesting topic supported with a beautiful build, Konrad @konrad
Well done.
Thanks 🙂
Very nice build, and an unusual subject to boot!
Thank you!
Cool incarnation of an old favorite. Nicely done!
Thanks 🙂