![](\"http:\/\/legeros.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016-03-20-rfd1.jpg\")
<\/a>News & Observer photo<\/em><\/p>\n
About This Truck<\/strong><\/p>\n Based on new research, this truck was acquired around 1970 or abouts. It wasn\u2019t on the roster in 1970, and had disappeared from the roster by 1980. Yours Truly (cough, cough) had cited in his decade-ago timeline <\/a>(lately updated) that the truck was delivered new. Wrong. Though there was a civilian version created around 1960, the turret configuration is different. This one\u2019s an ex-military rig. Thanks Mark<\/strong> Redman<\/strong>, for that info.<\/p>\n Then what\u2019s the story?<\/p>\n In 1969, the airport received a new International\/Ansul dry-chemical rig. This raised the airport\u2019s fire rating briefly, and then an Eastern DC-8 landed. Guess that was the largest jet to date, and they needed even more firefighting capabilities. The article said that ideas were being \u201ckicked around\u201d on how to raise the rating again.<\/p>\n By 1970, the airport master plan said that construction was underway of a 5,000 gallon, tractor-drawn foam generator. Was it ever built and\/or delivered? Thinking not. Then a couple years later, a new 1973 Walter CB3000 crash was delivered. Where does the 1959 Walter fit into this?<\/p>\n Thinking that the 1959 truck was bought a bit before the 1973 truck. That would\u2019ve immediately expanded their ARFF capacity until funds were available and construction was finished on the 1973 truck. (Hey, sounds good to me!)<\/p>\n The 1959 truck operated until 1977, when a second new Walter rig was delivered. (Thanks Dale Johnson<\/strong>, for digging through your memory banks on this one.) It was retired and (immediately? later?) moved to the Durham Museum of Life and Science, where it sat outdoors as an attraction. It\u2019s pictured here in 1985, with our friend (and military\/ARFF historian) Pete Brock<\/strong> in the front seat:<\/p>\n Wider Shot<\/strong><\/p>\n The above image appears in this News & Observer<\/em> photo from 1976, cropped from a larger image also showing the airport\u2019s 1973 Walter CB3000, and Fire Chief Terry Edmundson. See more historical photos<\/a>.<\/p>\n About The Class 1500<\/strong><\/p>\n Military fire historian Ted Heinbuch<\/strong> (who runs Fire Trucks at War<\/a> and its accompanying Facebook group<\/a>) has written an excellent capsule history of the Class 1500. Read that excellent document<\/a><\/strong> (PDF). The truck was developed by the Army Corps of Engineers beginning in 1954, to \u201cmeet the challenges associated with new types of weapons, missile installations, and the increased use of aircraft at Army airfields.\u201d Production started in 1959.<\/p>\n The 4\u00d74 truck was powered by an eight-cylinder, 300 HP gas engine. The 1500 GPM two-stage pump powered a roof turret, two one-inch booster lines, and discharges for the 1000 feet of 2 1\/2-inch hose and 100 feet of 1 3\/4-inch hose it carried. Aboard were 950 gallons of water and 250 gallons of foam. Other features included a 20,000 pound winch. There were a total of 136 trucks produced for the Army.<\/p>\n
Pete Brock photo<\/em><\/p>\n
<\/a>News & Observer photo<\/em><\/p>\n