The Little World

Well, I like it. It has flaws, but then so do most of the things I love.

The prototype for this build was apparently bought by Ranchers, Inc. in Boise Idaho in 1963 and converted to a water bomber – or fire tanker in the North American parlance. It did not last long, stacking it in August of that year – fatally for the pilot.

Other planes of the same configuration – but later models – were also used for aerial fire fighting. You’ll see them with bubble canopies as well as the big tanks slung under the fuselage.

The images of N30020 are few and far between, but they were taken in colour on Kodachrome and are accurate references. The Airfix kit could go some of the way to recreating this plane, and I have not stretched the interpretation too far – it suffices to make a contrast with the USAAF night fighter version from Hobby Boss in pure black and to make up the third water bomber in the collection. I want a Canadair CL 225 next in the red/yellow. If I get ambitious I’ll modify an Academy Catalina into a Canso water bomber for Newfoundland in the orange and green livery.

Oddly enough, in all my years in Canada – in Alberta and BC – I saw a lot of forest fires but never once got to see water bombers in action.