"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message ...

To be successful as a water bomber, an aircraft
has to be able to maneuver in tight quarters, take high Gs, and maybe deal
with "battle damage" from hitting tree tops or other sources.

But of course, the nature of a water load and the nature of a bomb load
are a bit different. Aircraft designed as Tankers might be a better idea
(of which the DC-10 already has a variant).