Driving the World's Largest Fire Engine!

THIS COULD BE YOURS FOR JUST £25,000

6200 gallons of water, 515 gallon of AFFF foam, Each pump, pumps 1250 GPM, It will do 75 MPH down the runway, I know I've done it. Drove one while on active duty Air force. It was a sweet ride.

You should turn the water tank into a one bedroom tiny house. That would be some Mad Max camping shit right there.

Someone who enjoys what they do, never does a day's 'work'. What a life you have, playing with all these amazing bits of kit.

There were 2 of these in the UK Number 7 was at Mildenhall and this one number 5 was based at RAF Fairford. There is a photo online of it at RAF Fairford in period.

Designed for protection of air bases which flew B52 bombers. 56 were built. RAF Fairford and Mildenhall had the UK service ones. The civilian version was the M23. Boeing Seattle used 5 between 3 airfields. I was fortunate enough to have a chance to drive and operate the monitor on such an example when I was on a visit to Boeing in 1987.

Factoid: They once filled that thing in North Wales and it reduced the volume of the Irish sea by approximately 17.3%.

I was a driver and crew chief on the P-15's. there is a switch to isolate one drive drain from the other.It could make moving it around easier. Plus the rubber buttons on the left side of steering wheel are foe ether injectors. make starting it much easier.

I once had a ride on an airport crash tender, they took use down the runway at great speed then applied the brakes to bring us to a rapid stop before we ran out of runway. This was at Benbecula Airport, a former Royal Air Force Coastal Command airfield, in the Outer Hebrides! The brakes on the tender were not in the wheel hubs, they were in the centre of the axle, they were bigger and beefier than standard brakes, and they were air cooled with forced air input.

strangely id quite like to see that thing restored... what a babe

Drove a smaller version on an air force base in West Australia (I'm an ex Gloucester Fireman who moved to Oz where I drove Thornycroft airport firetrucks at Perth airport before joining the WA Fire Brigade). I recognise the T shaped pressure control valve above the hose reel. That's used to prevent too much pressure knocking the hose reel operator off his feet. The valve suggests it is fitted with a pump made by Waterous, an American pump. Possibly a two stage centrifugal pump with a third high pressure impeller for the hose reel. The monitors (or cannon if you like) would be used with foam. You don't blast water at an aircraft fire but lob foam on to create a foam blanket. If it has foam in the tank (called AFFF, Aqueous Film Forming Foam) best avoid it and don't dump it. It's hugely carcinogenic and has contaminated ground water around airports and fire stations. Most was made by 3M. Many of us who wallowed in it are getting cancers and those that don't are being medically tested regularly. If you want to use the foam system you can get a training foam which is safer or just use a cheap detergent. Love your work. Oh yes, also they are built for charging in a straight line on airport runways and don't corner well, quite a few were rolled.

Was Based at RAF Fairford, in the 1990s My Dad use to work in the fire department there and remembers it well.

Andrew camarata desperately needed this!

“number 5 is alive”

Somewhere in that beast's rev range it was hitting the resonant frequency of my bag of pork scratchings...

Field repair. Exactly, you use whatever you have to hand to get it running. Brilliant video as always. And what a beast!

Brilliant Joe, great video, I just did a community post on a smaller version of a truck like this made by the Walter Motor company, used as crash rescue truck in Australia, powered by only 1 rear mount 8v92t and only 4x4, all the best, Bruce

Perfect for the morning cuppa! Cracking start to the day. What a behemoth of a machine 💪

Very well done to the camera lady for scrupulously avoiding getting the waste oil tray in shot that you were, no doubt, draining the diesel tank into.

Being an ex fireman the truck can go as fast as you want but when turning the water in the tank demands to keep going straight . So SLOW down before turning or landing on your side is a large possibility.