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What's interesting is this bigger is best approach.
Neither the Il-76 or the 747 are exactly low level fliers in the fire bombing sense.
The Canadair 412 water bomber, although far far smaller is and its used extensively in Europe. They are happy to dump parts of the Mediterranian Sea onto fires without too much concern as to saltwater damage...
OK its a super scooper in the same way the Martin Mars is, except it also has full landing gear to use hard runways...
As to why not use the Il-76, there are a few C-141s at Davis Monthan that could have the same conversion, or reopen the C-5 line or even new build C-17s to do the job....all of which would probably be more appropriate both politically and in reality more effective than the Candid.
The others used (DC-4/6/7, Neptunes,Orions and Electras) are really beingi to show their weaknesses and age. Ok they are cheap....
If would be nice to see the Mars flying again, mainly becuase as flying boats they look so damn good in action...
What is strange is that of all the options avaliable so little is being done to address the issue. Its is clear that there are insuffucient resources, Il-76s or others to deal with the problem and very slow progress to solving it...
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