Mendocino Air Tanker Squad

Last updated April 05, 2024

The Mendocino Air Tanker Squad (MATS) is a flying fire fighting team working to protect the Mendocino National Forest. Joseph Bolles Ely, the Fire Control Officer formed it In 1956.

History

The impetus for this unit occurred on July 9, 1953, when fifteen men were killed while fighting the Rattlesnake Fire, in the Alder Springs area of the Mendocino National Forest. The tragedy prompted forester to look for better ways of fighting fires. Joseph Ely was fighting a fire in the Angeles National Forest at the time of the Rattlesnake Fire. According to his son Frank, Joe became passionate about making firefighting safer for his men. The idea of dropping water from airplanes had been considered for many years and but no experiments had led to the regular use of airplanes to drop water. Ely had the idea to use agriculture pilots who were adept at spraying liquids over crops. He approached Floyd H. Nolta, already an experienced and innovative agriculture and stunt pilot. Within one week, Nolta cut a hole in the bottom of his Boeing-Stearman 75 bi-plane and installed a 160-gallon tank with a hinged gate, a snap, and a pull. His brother Vance flew the plane over a controlled burn in a demonstration with Ely later documenting the moment, “…Vance came over low and pulled the rope and put out the fire. The air tanker was born."

On August 13, 1955, Nolta dropped water to assist a crew on the Mendenhall Fire in the Mendocino National Forest. The Noltas, along with their brother Dale, assisted the Forest Service with other fires that season. In August, Ely conducted a series of tests comparing the effectiveness of water and retardant drops, utilizing Willows Airport and a location in the mountains of the Mendocino National Forest as the drop zones. Ely used that study to establish the parameters of deploying those substances for fighting fires.^[1] Advances in logistics and techniques came quickly. The Forest Service learned to stage a water tender at a gravel or dirt strip near the fire so the planes could quickly reload. Other pilots expressed an interest in becoming aerial firefighters. Ely later recalled, “Local pilots were quick to respond. Ag pilots were the last of the silk-scarf and leather-helmet boys and they would try anything that was exciting.”^[2] During the winter of 1955-56, Ely garnered support from the Forest Service regional office in San Francisco, including $4,000 to pay pilots for stand-by time. Eight ag pilots from the Willows area formed the Mendocino Air Tanker Squadron (MATS). In addition to Floyd,Vance and Dale Nolta, other early pilots were Harold Hendrickson and Frank Prentice of Willows, Ray Varney of Artois (Glenn County), L. H. McCurley of Corning (Tehama County), and Warren Bullock of Red Bluff (Tehama County). Willows Airport manager Lee Sherwood, who also owned an ag flying service, flew Ely or other Forest Service officers in an observation plane, referred to as the “Bird Dog.” The “Aerial Firewagons” were Boeing-Stearman Model 75 and Navy N3N biplanes.

The squadron was based at the Willows-Glenn County Airport and operated out of Corning and Red Bluff as well to shorten the initial response times. At times, planes were dispatched to remote airfields to stand by during the day and returned to Willows in the evening.

On July 12, 1956, three years and three days after the deadly Rattlesnake Fire, a letter was sent to the sixteen other national forests in California, as well as the California Division of Forestry (CalFire) stating, “Seven air tankers will be available for aerial assistance in fire control in the Northern California area during the months of August and September 1956… They will operate out of home airports at Willows, Corning and Red Bluff and are available to any fire control unit that wants them.”

Ag flying involves accurate flying low over the terrain to properly disperse seed or liquid in large flat areas where the only obstacles are trees and power lines. Drops over forest fires requires passes deep in canyons or above high ridges, everchanging treetop heights, smoke-filled air, and rapidly changing air currents. An N3N weighs about 2000 pounds, so dropping a load of water results in an immediate fifty percent decrease in weight. The rapid rise was used to clear an approaching ridge or tree line. The original pilots learned how to fly in these conditions.

Water drops were used to make it safer for ground crews. On hot days, even dropped at fifty feet, much of the water evaporated before it hit the ground, so the pilots chose to fly at five to ten feet above the treetops. The Forest Service wanted a safety margin of seventy-five feet above the trees.

The solution was to mix water with sodium calcium borate, producing a compound that made it to the ground with a melting point twice as high as the 900 degree ignition point of a forest fire. The white material stuck to brush and reflected heat, so it was employed on the flanks of fires to control spread. Sodium calcium borate was only utilized for a short time because, although it was white when it dropped, it quickly blended in with the vegetation so they could not see where it had been deployed. Borate also sterilized the soil so other compounds were found. The “Borate Bombers” nickname stuck.

The Forest Service required that retardants, “had to be viscous and bright colored in order to use prior drops as a reference point, still provide fireproofing up to three days after being dropped and contain fertilizer to promote regrowth.” Those requirements led to compounds such as bentonite, a clay that swelled up and stuck better, and sometimes came down in a chunk instead of a spray. By the 1960s, a diammonium phosphate retardant was preferred.

The thick slurry of water and retardants were slow to load into the planes, so Joe Ely found another solution with Wim Lely of Orland who manufactured specialized machinery. Lely built a machine that could mix 1000 gallons of retardant and pump it into the planes in minutes. Ely provided mixing machines and services to the Forest Service for many years. Ely later related that water drops were not sufficient in the arid California climate and credited the use of retardants as key to the effectiveness of aerial firefighting.^[3]

The MATS fought twelve fires during their first month of operation and were soon flying all over California. Some of the biggest fires they fought in that first year were in southern California, including the Inaja Fire in the Cleveland National Forest. Eleven firefighters were lost in that fire before the team was dispatched. Not completely trusting their aircraft compasses, flying to southern California meant visually following U.S. Highway 99.

In a study at the end of 1956, the MATS were found to have assisted in twenty-three Forest Service fires. Of those incidents, aircraft were a deciding factor in assuring control in fourteen fires, a definite factor is assisting ground crews in four fires, did not affect control in four, and were detrimental in one when a back fire was accidentally extinguished.

In 1957, Forest Service aerial assets increased from seven air tankers to twenty-six, including eight surplus Forest Service-owned Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers fitted with 400-gallon tanks. Larger and larger airplane models soon joined the fight, including Grumman F7F Tigercat (800 gallons), Consolidated PBY Catalina (1000 gallons) and Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer (2000 gallons), Douglas DC-6 (2800 gallons) and Douglas B-26 Invader (1200 gallons), and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (1200 gallons) and Boeing C-97 Stratofreighter (5000 gallons.) North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, The latter was removed from the fleet after a series of fatal accidents.

The California Division of Forestry took advantage of the Service’s offer to use the aerial tankers, before establishing their own squadrons in 1958.

The U.S. Forest Service based their regional operations at Willows Airport until 1982. Larger aircraft required a longer runway, so operations were moved to Chico Municipal Airport (Butte County).

On October 6, 2023 the Willows Airport was added to the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of the airport being the location of the first air tanker squadron in the United States.^[4]

Related Research Articles

Aerial firefighting, also known as waterbombing, is the use of aircraft and other aerial resources to combat wildfires. The types of aircraft used include fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Smokejumpers and rappellers are also classified as aerial firefighters, delivered to the fire by parachute from a variety of fixed-wing aircraft, or rappelling from helicopters. Chemicals used to fight fires may include water, water enhancers such as foams and gels, and specially formulated fire retardants such as Phos-Chek.

Yellowstone Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located adjacent to U.S. 191/U.S. 287 one nautical mile (2 km) north of the central business district of West Yellowstone, a town in Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Although only open from June through September, commercial passenger service is available during those months. Scheduled airline service is subsidized by the federal Essential Air Service (EAS) program.

Hemet-Ryan Airport is three miles (6 km) southwest of Hemet, in Riverside County, California.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is the fire department of the California Natural Resources Agency in the U.S. state of California. It is responsible for fire protection in various areas under state responsibility totaling 31 million acres, as well as the administration of the state's private and public forests. In addition, the department provides varied emergency services in 36 of the state's 58 counties via contracts with local governments. The department's current director is Joe Tyler, who was appointed March 4, 2022, by Governor of California Gavin Newsom.

The DC-10 Air Tanker is a series of American wide-body jet air tankers, which have been in service as an aerial firefighting unit since 2006. The aircraft, operated by the joint technical venture 10 Tanker Air Carrier, are converted wide-body McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 passenger jetliners, and are primarily used to fight wildfires, typically in rural areas. The turbofan-powered aircraft carry up to 9,400 US gallons of water or fire retardant in an exterior belly-mounted tank, the contents of which can be released in eight seconds. Four air tankers are currently in operation, all DC-10-30 aircraft, with the call-signs Tanker 910, 911, 912 and 914. The original Tanker 910, a DC-10-10, was retired in 2014.

Willows-Glenn County Airport is a county-owned, public-use airport located one nautical mile (2 km) west of the central business district of Willows, a city in Glenn County, California, United States. This airport is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which categorized it as a general aviation facility. It is also known as Willows-Glenn Airport.

The CAL FIRE Aviation Management Program is a branch of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Due to the frequency and severity of wildfires in California, the state has elected to establish its own aerial firefighting force rather than rely solely on contract or national resources. The Aviation Management Program is based at McClellan Airfield near Sacramento, California.

The Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) is a self-contained unit used for aerial firefighting that can be loaded onto both military cargo transport Lockheed C-130 Hercules and Embraer C-390 Millennium, which then allows the aircraft to be used as an air tanker against wildfires. This allows the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to use military aircraft from the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve to serve as an emergency backup resource to the civilian air tanker fleet.

In 2002, two large airtankers – a Lockheed C-130 Hercules and a Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer – crashed about a month apart while performing aerial firefighting operations. These crashes prompted a review of the maintenance and use of the entire U.S. large airtanker fleet. Ultimately, the whole fleet was grounded, dramatically reducing the resources available to fight major wildfires. Both aircraft were owned by Hawkins & Powers Aviation of Greybull, Wyoming and operated under contract to the United States Forest Service (USFS). The crashes occurred in one of the worst fire seasons in the last half century, one in which 73,000 fires burned 7.2 million acres (29,000 km²) of land.

Aero Union Corporation was an aircraft operation and maintenance company based in Chico, California, United States. It was known for operating aerial firefighting aircraft, training crews and making custom designed firefighting systems tailored to specific aircraft requirements. After years of controversies regarding the operation of the company and the safety of its aircraft, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) canceled its contract, and the company was forced to shut down soon after.

The 747 Supertanker is a retired aerial firefighting airtanker derived from various Boeing 747 models. The aircraft is rated to carry up to 19,600 US gallons (74,000 L) of fire retardant or water. It is the largest aerial firefighting aircraft in the world.

Yankee Lady is a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, owned by the Yankee Air Museum of Van Buren Township, Michigan. Originally delivered to the U.S military in 1945, the plane did not see combat action; it was used by the United States Coast Guard for over a decade. Purchased by the museum in 1986, it has since been restored to a World War II configuration and is flown for flight experience rides and airshow appearances.

Air Spray (1967) Ltd. trading as Air Spray Ltd. of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and Air Spray USA Inc of Chico, California is a private company specializing in aerial wildfire suppression using air tanker or water bomber aircraft. Air Spray was owned and operated by Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame inductee, Donald T. Hamilton until his death in 2011. The company continued to be owned and operated by his daughter, Lynn Hamilton, of Foothills, Alberta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Fire</span> 2015 wildfire in Southern California

The Lake Fire was a wildfire that burned in the San Bernardino National Forest. The fire started on June 17, 2015, and burned over 31,359 acres before it was fully contained on July 21, 2015.

On 31 July 2010, a Convair CV-580 Airtanker aircraft operated by Conair Aviation crashed while on a firefighting mission near Lytton, British Columbia, Canada. Both crew members, the only people on board, were killed.

Neptune Aviation Services Inc. is an aerial firefighting company based out of Missoula International Airport in Missoula, Montana. It provides aerial support and firefighting to the United States, Canada, Chile and throughout the world. Founded in 1993, Neptune Aviation is known for aerial firefighting, aviation maintenance, fixed-base operator and air charter operations.

The development of aerial firefighting and forestry in southern Australia ran in parallel with the rapid improvements in aircraft technology over the last century. As more advanced and capable aircraft became available firefighters and foresters quickly sought opportunities to utilise and adapt them.

Joseph Bolles Ely (1911-2006) was a Fire Control Officer for the Mendocino National Forest who created the Mendocino Air Tanker Squad, the first such unit in the United States.

Floyd Harrison “Speed” Nolta was an accomplished American pilot who developed a method of sowing rice seed from an airplane, and later invented the first successful method of dropping water from an airplane for fighting forest fires. He served as an Army airplane mechanic during World War 1 and returned to serve as a pilot in the Army Air Forces during World War 2. He was a stunt pilot in Hollywood and a civic leader in Willows, California.</ref>

On 23 January 2020, a Lockheed EC-130Q Hercules, owned by Coulson Aviation, crashed while aerial firefighting for the New South Wales Rural Fire Service during Australia's black summer bushfires. All three crew on board the flight were fatally injured when the aircraft hit a tree before colliding with the ground, followed by a post-impact fuel-fed fire. The victims were US residents who were in Australia to help fight numerous substantial bushfires in the region.

References

This article incorporates public domain material from National Register of Historic Places Registration Form (PDF). United States Department of the Interior.

↑ Ely, Joseph (October 20, 1955). "Air Delivery of Water Helps Control Brush and Grass Fires". Forest Research Notes: 4.
↑ Ely, Joseph. "A Whole New Way to Fight Fire: The Development of Air Tankers in California". Journal of Forest History (April 1983): 81.
↑ Ely, Joseph. "A Whole New Way to Fight Fire: The Development of Air Tankers in California."". Journal of Forest History (April 1983).
↑ "National Historic Places application". tedtalkshistory.com.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] Ely, Joseph (October 20, 1955). "Air Delivery of Water Helps Control Brush and Grass Fires". Forest Research Notes: 4.

[2] Ely, Joseph. "A Whole New Way to Fight Fire: The Development of Air Tankers in California". Journal of Forest History (April 1983): 81.

[3] Ely, Joseph. "A Whole New Way to Fight Fire: The Development of Air Tankers in California."". Journal of Forest History (April 1983).

[4] "National Historic Places application". tedtalkshistory.com.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]