Brownwood News – A heavy lift firefighting helicopter, belonging to the Croman Corporation, is now based at the Brownwood Regional Airport for the winter months. In our visit to the airport hangar a few days ago, we met the helicopter mechanic, Brian Wamack of Sitka, Alaska. He told us the chopper is a 1960’s Navy SH3H that Croman Corporation has converted into a firefighting helicopter. “It’s the same model that the President flies on as Marine One,” Wamack said. The company contracts its services to agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service. He shared other interesting facts.
- There is a 1,000 gallon water tank that sits directly under the engines.
- Max speed is 130 knots and it can fly for about 3 ½ hours on a tank of fuel.
- On the front end of the helicopter is a device called a snorkel which is lowered from the helicopter into a body of water. A hydraulic pump sucks the water out of a lake, pond, river or a huge bucket of water set up by the Forest Service. It can fill the 1,000 gallon tank in one minute.
- There are two GE T58 engines, each rated at 1,500 shaft horsepower.
- The helicopter burns about 1,000 pounds of fuel per hour
- When fighting fire, only two pilots are on board. When transporting the craft from one place to the next, a third person, a mechanic, is on board.
- Croman Corporation is based out of White City, Oregon. They have contracts to fight fires all over the country. This particular helicopter flew to Brownwood from Georgia where they were working for the U.S. Forest Service.
- As it sits, the helicopter weighs 11,800 pounds. Gross weight is 21,000 pounds.
