Gunships - Inspiration.

[TheChronicOne]

Sometimes I like to try to make civilian versions of military things. I got to thinking about how I could do this with a gunship. That got me to thinking..... "what type of situation could a civilian actually be in possession of and using guns? "  Then it hit me, "Well, they do that with avalanche mitigation, literally shooting howitzers at mountains."  So there we have it...... one thing lead to another and the premise of a private company capitlaizing on the idea of a mobile avalanche gun platform that could reach even the most remote ski slopes and mountains passes, regardless of roadway openings and other factors (and far quicker than hauling in one on a ground vehicle) so the "Avalancer" was born.......    lance some avalanches from the sky to create intentional avalanches to stave off accidental ones. A civilian gunship.






I had another similar idea not too long ago thanks to the movie "The Towering Inferno."   What if there were an aircraft that could be deployed to fight high rise fires? Water cannons instead of ....    artillery cannons. It could sort of orbit around the top of a burning skycraper and shoot water onto it. Not the most effective way to fight a fire but would be better than NOTHING perhaps? Kinda neat concept to think about, in my opinion. Paint up the airplane with all the fancy fire truck type of paint jobs, etc...  brass nozzles water cannons (you know, like the ones on boats).  Time on station might be short lived but just imagine instead of dropping a bunch of water all at once, just releasing it through the cannons...   stupid idea, probably... fun idea? Proabably!!

[kerick]

Not a bad idea at all! Something small enough to maneuver around tall buildings and land on short runways for quick turnaround. I'm thinking G222 or C-27 upgrade. Other choices out there I'm sure.

[Flyer]

Not a bad idea at all! Something small enough to maneuver around tall buildings and land on short runways for quick turnaround. I'm thinking G222 or C-27 upgrade. Other choices out there I'm sure.

or DHC Caribou

But it got me thinking that forward speed would be a problem with this idea so how about a large helicopter like a Chinook, CH-53 or Skycrane. Or just use a Skycrane to lift a fire truck to the required height

[TheChronicOne]

     

[Rick Lowe]

Not a bad idea at all! Something small enough to maneuver around tall buildings and land on short runways for quick turnaround. I'm thinking G222 or C-27 upgrade. Other choices out there I'm sure.

or DHC Caribou

But it got me thinking that forward speed would be a problem with this idea so how about a large helicopter like a Chinook, CH-53 or Skycrane. Or just use a Skycrane to lift a fire truck to the required height

Just use the regular Skycrane firebomber

But where's the fun in being conventional and logical? 

How about the 747 firebomber?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/747_Supertanker

And there are all those airframes sitting in mothballs now,,,

[TheChronicOne]

Maaaannnnnn that 74 is so damn cool.....   I've caught some of the vids.   What a dream job to be on that thing!

[McColm]

I was thinking of using my 'Vietnam Neptune ' as a starting point as seen at the Hendon RAF Museum model show, many years ago.
https://imgur.com/a/u1mOUGc

[zenrat]

Not a bad idea at all! Something small enough to maneuver around tall buildings and land on short runways for quick turnaround. I'm thinking G222 or C-27 upgrade. Other choices out there I'm sure.

or DHC Caribou

But it got me thinking that forward speed would be a problem with this idea so how about a large helicopter like a Chinook, CH-53 or Skycrane. Or just use a Skycrane to lift a fire truck to the required height

Mojave with water cannon shooting out of the front loading doors.

[Weaver]

Just think how difficult it would be to hit the train, too. Being so small, & the Fallschirmjägers & Stuka pilots being so used to full-size trains, they'd miss every time!

The Stuka pilots would think they were too high and pull out of their dives too late...

[kerick]

I seem to remember a set up with a helicopter to lift a fire house from the street to spray a high rise fire. The limiting factor was the weight of the hose and water. The advantage was no tank on the chopper to run dry so continuous water volume.

[Old Wombat]

... a set up with a helicopter to lift a fire house from the street to spray a high rise fire ...

This had me laughing!

[kerick]

House, hose, horse, whatever works!
Autocorrect is not always helpful!!!!

[Rheged]

House, hose, horse, whatever works!
Autocorrect is not always helpful!!!!

Autocorrect is a right pain in the tonsils...............or much further down the digestive tract.   Anyway, we all knew what you meant and all had a quiet chuckle.

I seem to remember a "Dan Dare"  story on the front of the Eagle comic aeons ago where a one man machine like a Fairey Ultralight  was doing exactly what you suggest...............but only those of more mature years will remember the Eagle.

[PR19_Kit]

...............but only those of more mature years will remember the Eagle.

Remember it, the Eagle (the Annual in particular) was a major factor in my career path some years later on! 

[Mossie]