The Conair Firecat is a fire-fighting aircraft developed in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

in the 1970s by modifying military surplus

Grumman S-2 Tracker The Grumman S-2 Tracker (S2F prior to 1962) was the first purpose-built, single airframe anti-submarine warfare (ASW) aircraft to enter service with the United States Navy. Designed and initially built by Grumman, the Tracker was of conventiona ...

s. The modifications were developed by the maintenance arm of the

Conair Group Conair Group Inc. of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, formerly known as Conair Aviation, is a company specializing in retrofitting firefighting aircraft, maintaining customer and company-owned aircraft and aerial firefighting. Conair cur ...

, which became a separate company called Cascade Aerospace.

Development

The Firecats are retrofitted

s. Conair bought a large number of Trackers formerly operated by the

Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

and a small number of ex-

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

aircraft as well. The Trackers are modified for

aerial firefighting Aerial may refer to: Music * ''Aerial'' (album), by Kate Bush * ''Aerials'' (song), from the album ''Toxicity'' by System of a Down Bands * Aerial (Canadian band) *Aerial (Scottish band) *Aerial (Swedish band) Performance art *Aerial silk, ...

as Firecats by raising the cabin floor by 20 cm (8 in) and fitting a 3,296-litre (870 U.S. gal) retardant tank where the

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, s ...

bay is normally located. All superfluous military equipment is removed and the empty weight is almost 1,500 kg lower than a Tracker's. The first aircraft was modified in 1978. Some examples have been re-engined with

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...

engines and are known as Turbo Firecats, these feature a larger tank and extra underwing fuel tanks; the Maximum Take Off Weight (MTOW) is increased by 680 kg (1,500 lb) to 12,480 kg (27,500 lb), while the lighter turbine engines also reduce the empty weight. The first Turbo Firecat was produced in 1988.Aircraft World Directory Firecat page
retrieved 2008-01-18.

Operational history

Conair commenced Firecat operations in 1978. Firecats and Turbo Firecats were previously in service with Conair and the

Government of Saskatchewan The Government of Saskatchewan (french: Gouvernement de la Saskatchewan) refers to the provincial government of the province of Saskatchewan. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867. In modern Canadian use, the term "g ...

in CanadaTracker survivors in Canada
retrieved 2008-01-18. and were also used by the

Government of Ontario The government of Ontario (french: Gouvernement de l'Ontario) is the body responsible for the administration of the Canadian province of Ontario. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown—represented in the province by the lieutenant governor ...

. The Sécurité Civile organisation in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

took delivery of 14 Firecats over a period of five years commencing in May 1982. It has had its examples further converted and is now standardized on the Turbo Firecat. A total of 35 Firecat and Turbo Firecat conversions have been performed; four Firecats and three Turbo Firecats have crashed in France.History of Sécurité Civile Firecat operations
(in French). Retrieved: 18 August 2008. In 2020 Turbo Firecats were retired for Sécurité Civile in France. Similar conversions are performed by another company

Marsh Aviation Marsh Aviation is an aircraft engineering, design, maintenance and re-manufacturing company, situated on East Falcon Drive, at Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona. The company often works as a sub-contractor to well-known brand-name aerospace compan ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. These are known as Marsh Turbo Trackers and feature

Garrett AiResearch TPE-331 The Honeywell TPE331 (military designation: T76) is a turboprop engine. It was originally designed in the 1950s by Garrett AiResearch, and produced since 1999 by Honeywell Aerospace. The engine's power output ranges from . Design and developm ...

turboprop engines.

Variants

;Firecat: Original version, fitted with

Wright R-1820 The Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 is an American radial engine developed by Curtiss-Wright, widely used on aircraft in the 1930s through 1950s. It was produced under license in France as the Hispano-Suiza 9V or Hispano-Wright 9V, and in the Soviet Un ...

radial

piston engine A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common fea ...

s as fitted to standard Grumman Trackers ;Turbo Firecat: Version fitted with two

Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 is a turboprop aircraft engine produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada. Its design was started in 1958, it first ran in February 1960, first flew on 30 May 1961, entered service in 1964 and has been continuously upd ...

A-67AF turboprop engines

Aircraft on display

Canadian Museum of Flight The Canadian Museum of Flight (formally the Canadian Museum of Flight Association since 1998) is an aviation museum at the Langley Regional Airport in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. The museum has over 25 civilian and military jets, pist ...

, Langley, British Columbia * Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario *

Reynolds-Alberta Museum The Reynolds-Alberta Museum is an agricultural, industrial, and transportation museum in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada. The museum is situated on an property containing the main museum building, an aviation display hangar, and its storage facility ...

, Wetaskiwin, Alberta

Specifications (Turbo Firecat)

References

* *
Manufacturer's website

External links

{{Commons category, S-2 Tracker waterbomber
Tracker, Firecat and Turbo Firecat History and Photos (in French)
1970s Canadian special-purpose aircraft Firecat Grumman aircraft Aerial firefighting aircraft Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Twin-turboprop tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1978 Aircraft first flown in 1988