turbofirecat

01_00095022 SDASM Image

from SDASM Archives

• AceFlyboy1 said:

  Grumman US-2B Tracker BuNo 136552 Possible tail code 6B or 6R which cannot as yet be identified……perhaps even ‘SR’. The assigned code for NAS Glenview Illinois was ‘7V’. The code ‘SR’ was allocated to US Marine Corps unit H&MS-30, Headquarters and Maintenance Squadron 30 during the late 1960s early 1970s. Although they were a helicopter equipped unit. As this aircraft was also with AES-12 during at least 1969 (US Marine Corps: Aircraft Engineering Squadron) it may have continued association with the USMC in another manner. SOME RESEARCHED NOTES FOR THE EVENTFUL EXISTENCE OF THIS AIRCRAFT Grumman S2F-1 (S-2A) Tracker BuNo 136552 Converted to US-2B. 1969: AES-12 as 352. 1980: NAS Willow Grove Base Flight as 552. Dec. 7, 1980: Put into storage at Military Aircraft Storage and Disposal Center (MASDC) Arizona. Assigned five digit MASDC Process Control Number (PCN): 1S760. July 26, 1983. Sold off as surplus via intermediary dealer Reagan Enterprises of Chico CA. Prepared for flight. Assigned temporary FAA registration N4477Z in 1984. Flown to Conair at Abbotsford British Columbia, Canada. Converted by Conair to Firecat airtanker. Using temporary Transport Canada registration C-GQCW for air test. Using F-WDSX as ferry registration, delivered across the Atlantic to French Sécurité Civile in June 1985 to become F-ZBEX tanker T9 One of several Firecats Sécurité Civile decided to completely modernize and upgrade. Ferry registered as F-WEOL in September 1995 and flown back to Conair in Canada. Stored at Abbotsford awaiting conversion to Turbo Firecat. Extensive conversion complete, in May 2000 became Canadian registered C-GFZG for air testing - then re-delivered once again using F-WEOL, to become Sécurité Civile’s Turbo Firecat F-ZBMA tanker number 24 in June 2002. Despite a proposal to retire the Firecat fleet in year 2022, in year 2020 all Securite Civile Turbo Firecats were abruptly retired after one suffered a major undercarriage failure while taxiing. Turbo Firecat F-ZBMA/24 has been chosen for a return-to-flight project in private hands. If the effort is successful, the aeroplane would be flown by former Sécurité Civile crews and require re-certification in the French authorities’ dedicated category for historic aircraft.