An Israeli Air Force (IAF) Hercules C-130 aircraft recently flew to Macedonia with a Police Aerial Firefighting Unit to help fight fires that had spread across the country.
The unit landed in the country two weeks ago, and have recently returned to recount the mission. Twenty-one servicemen and their equipment landed in the Macedonian international airport after being dispatched to assist with the firefighting efforts.
“To plan the mission successfully, we had to fully understand the extent of the mission, the expected weight load, how much fuel would be needed and whether or not we would not to make a fuelling stop along the way,” said Captain Dor, a flight engineer from the ‘Knights of the Yellow Bird’ Squadron, which operates the aircraft.
When flying in to land, Captian Dor said that the crew could see ‘whole areas of the country up in flames’ and realised how bad the situation must be in Macedonia. The crew was then hosted at a nearby military base by a helicopter squadron when carrying out their firefighting duties in the country.
