747 Supertanker

The 747 Supertanker is a retired aerial firefighting airtanker converted from several models of the Boeing 747, and for years it was the largest firefighting aircraft in the world. It is rated to carry up to 19,600 US gallons of fire retardant or water. The programme began after the 2002 fire season, when two air tankers crashed fatally in the United States and the Department of the Interior asked for information on a next generation airtanker. Evergreen International Aviation proposed converting its Boeing 747-200 freighters, and the first converted aircraft made its maiden flight on 19 February 2004 without ever entering service. The second Supertanker, a 747-100 first built in 1971 for Delta Air Lines, went into service in 2009 in Spain and made its first American operation at the Oak Glen Fire in California that August. A third aircraft, a 747-400 named the Spirit of John Muir, was developed by Global Supertanker Services, certified by the FAA in September 2016 and later sold to National Airlines and converted back to a freighter in 2021.