Smokey Bear “flies air tanker” in Christmas parade

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Fixed wingTags , ,
S-2 Redding parade float
A float in the Redding, California Christmas parade, December 7, 2014. CAL FIRE photo.

Sunday evening CAL FIRE / Shasta County Fire participated in the Redding (California) Lighted Christmas Parade with a special float featuring Tanker 94 flown by Smokey Bear dropping a special load of presents. The model airtanker is a replica of CAL FIRE’s Tanker 94 based at the Redding Air Base. It was created by CAL FIRE Engineer Patrick Westrip and many volunteers. Watch a video of how it was developed.

The Tanker that is on the float. (Screen shot from the video.)
The Tanker that is on the float. (Screen shot from the video.)

You can compare the float with the real Tanker 94 below.

Tanker 94, an S-2T, at Redding
Tanker 94, an S-2T, at Redding, August 7, 2014. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Johnny.

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3 thoughts on “Smokey Bear “flies air tanker” in Christmas parade”

  2. As the gifts cascade from the S2TT (tiny) the boxes remind me of the company developing “borate in a box”.

    1. For anyone not familiar with the term “borate”, it was a formulation of fire retardant that has not been used in air tankers since it was briefly tested on fires in southern California in 1956 and found to be a soil sterilant.

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