Story of the CL-215 the first purpose made water bomber

[CRAZY IVAN5]

3 hours ago, chrish said:

A few of us were standing around in the open doors of the hangar watching some 215 T’s running up before heading out to wherever they were going, one of the guys (an AME) has a contact at Viking said some rich dude in Europe ordered a 215T with executive seating so he could fly it to his island getaway….no idea if it’s true but rich people are weird so it makes sense

If you're rich, you're eccentric, If you're poor ,you're crazy.

[alaninaustria]

On 5/14/2026 at 1:06 AM, chrish said:

A few of us were standing around in the open doors of the hangar watching some 215 T’s running up before heading out to wherever they were going, one of the guys (an AME) has a contact at Viking said some rich dude in Europe ordered a 215T with executive seating so he could fly it to his island getaway….no idea if it’s true but rich people are weird so it makes sense

Yes, the Cl-215 and -215T version did come with a passenger configuration and it was used in the Amazon river basin to ferry workers up the river to a mine back in the day!

Cheers

Alan

Edited May 15 by alaninaustria

[Troy Molitor]

This isn't the only indigenous Canadian fire bomber.   I'm currently managing two prototype Dash 8 aircraft into a fire fighting roll here in North Bay Ontario.  We won an award last year at RIAT with our first bird.  The internal tanks holds 9,000lbs, 1,500 US gallons and dispenses in 5 seconds.  Our first prototype will be departing Canada next Tuesday for demonstrations in Italy and then Greece.  Look up Fireswift/ Metrea.  Canadian made, highly modified at Voyageur and engineered by Voyageur staff.   

[Polecadt]

4 hours ago, Troy Molitor said:

This isn't the only indigenous Canadian fire bomber.   I'm currently managing two prototype Dash 8 aircraft into a fire fighting roll here in North Bay Ontario.  We won an award last year at RIAT with our first bird.  The internal tanks holds 9,000lbs, 1,500 US gallons and dispenses in 5 seconds.  Our first prototype will be departing Canada next Tuesday for demonstrations in Italy and then Greece.  Look up Fireswift/ Metrea.  Canadian made, highly modified at Voyageur and engineered by Voyageur staff.   

Interesting. In France they have been using Dash8's as fire-bombers for years afaik, how is your new prototype different? 

 

 

For more info

https://aerialfiremag.com/2025/11/05/the-fire-guards-of-the-securite-civile/

Edited May 15 by Polecadt

[alaninaustria]

5 hours ago, Troy Molitor said:

This isn't the only indigenous Canadian fire bomber.   I'm currently managing two prototype Dash 8 aircraft into a fire fighting roll here in North Bay Ontario.  We won an award last year at RIAT with our first bird.  The internal tanks holds 9,000lbs, 1,500 US gallons and dispenses in 5 seconds.  Our first prototype will be departing Canada next Tuesday for demonstrations in Italy and then Greece.  Look up Fireswift/ Metrea.  Canadian made, highly modified at Voyageur and engineered by Voyageur staff.   

Great to hear Troy. I am aware of the Dash 8 legacy (300 series) tanker conversion from Voyageur. The Canadair scoopers (Cl-215/-415/ future -515) are the first purpose built (non conversion) Aerial Firefighting (AFF) aircraft in the world. All other tanker aircraft are conversions. The current (modern) fleet of AFF a/c are the Canadair scoopers (now DeHavilland) and the Q400 Air Tankers (AT) - (converted by Conair Group in Abbotsford Bc, Canada) and the Dash 8 legacy AT (converted by Voyageur in North Bay. The only other non-conversion AFF a/c in the world is the Be-200 from Russia. Coulson is in the game with late H model Hercs - also converted, as is Cal Fire. Its a funny list of a/c - because most are conversions. I was lucky enough to fly the CV-580 AT as well, a great tanker platform. I was very sad when they were retired. 

Cheers

Alan

[alaninaustria]

1 hour ago, Polecadt said:

Interesting. In France they have been using Dash8's as fire-bombers for years afaik, how is your new prototype different? 

 

 

For more info

https://aerialfiremag.com/2025/11/05/the-fire-guards-of-the-securite-civile/

The French Securitie Civile Dash 8 Air Tankers (AT) are the Q400 conversions engineered and designed by Conair Group in Abbostford BC Canada. The tank is a slip on/off exterior tank. The Voyageur legacy Dash 8 (Series 300) is to my knowledge an internal tank system that is pressurized (similar to the RADS tanks on the AT Hercs). There are traditionally either internal tanks, or exterior tanks. The Q400 and CV-580 both have exterior tanks and the Hercs have internal ones. The scoopers (Canadiar Cl-2157-415) have internal tanks. So do the air Tractor AT-802 aircraft (wheeled and FireBoss versions). HTH, Cheers Alan

[Polecadt]

Thanks for the info. I'm not an expert on this matter, but 5k of water is the same as a chinook bambi-bucket, but if a small lake or river is nearby, doesn't a chinook do way more cycles than a dash8?

(As a side step, I think NATO or the EU should  buy a european fleet of CL415s...)

[alaninaustria]

8 hours ago, Polecadt said:

Thanks for the info. I'm not an expert on this matter, but 5k of water is the same as a chinook bambi-bucket, but if a small lake or river is nearby, doesn't a chinook do way more cycles than a dash8?

(As a side step, I think NATO or the EU should  buy a european fleet of CL415s...)

Each AFF a/c is a tool in the tool box - each brings a unique solution to the same problem. Yes, large helos can get the job done too and in some areas that are too technical they are the better solution to employ. 
Large Air Tankers (AT) usually drop retardant (mud slurry mixed with fertilizer and red phosphate to color it) it stops fire and can be strategically used to contain a fire - the scoopers are used to put the fire out. Helos and scoopers do the same job. The Candairs can also take a load of retardant from a ground loading station but it is rare. 
Cheers

Alan

[Troy Molitor]

A great topic for sure.  Retardant is way more effective than plain water.  We are also in talks with another Canadian company that has a retardant which is environmentally friendly and won't kill the trout, frogs and salamanders in the streams.  All hail the salamanders!  The Dash 8's I'm involved with have a million $ Mx-15 EOIR ball which can see through the haze and pinpoint the hot spots and relay this information via Starlink in real time and hopefully we'll be able to fly at night soon, which is a game changer.  I can't go much further than this but the world seems to burn more and more and an aerial command aircraft /fire bomber is a great asset. Go Canada go! 

[Polecadt]

Indeed a very interesting topic, and unfortunaly too frequently in the news.. 

Thanks Alan for explaining, as a non-expert I tend to think, the more water/retardant , the better. But I understand that a few well positioned drops can mean  more than 100k litre on the wrong place... 

Over here we only see Chinooks, Cougars, and occasionally german CH-53's with bambi-buckets, but I have seen the Canadairs in action in France and Greece. Hope they overpay these guys, real heroes..

[KiwiZac]

On 5/16/2026 at 3:13 AM, Troy Molitor said:

This isn't the only indigenous Canadian fire bomber.   I'm currently managing two prototype Dash 8 aircraft into a fire fighting roll here in North Bay Ontario.

I always took it to mean the only Canadian fire bomber explicitly designed for the role, rather than the only indigenous one.

[Phantom2]

On 5/8/2026 at 8:36 PM, Out2gtcha said:

This would make such a cool LSP.

 

Agreed, but I would settle for a 1/48th!

 

I do have the A-Model 1/144 tough.

 

I love all those Canadian aircrafts!

 

Stefan