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French Firebombers Pictorial
This is a collection of photos taken over the past year or so showing the aircraft used by the Securite Civile in France for fighting forest fires. The principle fire bombers used are the Canadair CL-215 and CL-415 amphibians, with the latter variant having PW123 turboprop engines instead of the original's R-2800 radial engines. A conversion of the Grumman S-2 Tracker known as the Firecat is also widely used, with a turboprop conversion called the Turbo Firecat gradually replacing it. The civil version of the C-130 Hercules, the L-100, can be equipped to deliver large volumes of fire retardant when required.