43 Grupo 2021 - 50 Aniversario

Video from the channel Canadair 415 about Canadair CL-415, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 11:00. Language: Spanish. Video type: Documentary.

A commemorative report produced by the Forest Fire Defence Area (ADCIF) for the 50th anniversary of the 43rd Group (1971-2021), the unit that operates amphibious firefighting aircraft in Spain. It brings together testimonies from those who set it up and from its current leaders.

The protagonists place the start of the professionalisation of forest firefighting in Spain in the decision to use aerial resources. From 1969, crop-dusting aircraft were tested and flight hours were contracted for a CL-215 that was on its way to France, a country that had already decided to buy them. The trials, also carried out in Galicia, showed that the aircraft were fast and that a whole logistics chain of maintenance, spare parts and crews was needed. Two units were acquired, brought in through an agreement with the Ministry of the Army into the 404th Squadron, and presented to the forestry services in Zaragoza. One of the first pilots recalls getting to know the aircraft at the Montreal factory and the delivery flight in stages, with an ocean leg of about nine hours without radio aids before continuing from the Azores to Getafe.

Current officials present the unit as Spain's most powerful tool against forest fires, thanks to the experience of crews and mechanics and an aircraft designed for the task, with a 6,000-litre load. In firefighting missions it operates under the Military Emergency Unit and works alongside the ADCIF. Everyone agrees that renewing the fleet with new aircraft is urgent. The video also recalls the thank-you messages the public has written on beaches and bedsheets.