DC-10s as Water Bombers?

In a previous article, "Peter Duniho" said:
You are also losing track of the point he all of the discussion regarding
the actual "design" is moot unless the person claiming only bombers make
suitable water bombers can explain what it is about the design of a bomber
that is unique. Obviously since bomber designs have been converted to
passenger designs, they really aren't all that different. There is no a

Bombers are built stronger. Bombers converted to passenger planes have
never been all that successful, especially not if there is a commercial
competitor, because the extra structure they need to take military G loads
is extra weight that their competitors are carrying in passengers instead
of structure.

They are also designed to take some battle damage. I don't know of any
non-military aircraft where the spec said "must be able to take a 23mm
cannon shell hole in the main spar and keep flying", but I remember the
design spec for what became the UH-60 helicopter did have that provision
(ok, I don't remember seeing that in the spec for other military aircraft,
but the UH-60 and the AH-63 and AH-64 were the only ones that I read in
detail, and they all specified exactly what sort of battle damage they
must be able to take). 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.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
....if you squeeze a MS product into a small enough memory footprint there may
not be sufficient space for it to fall over, thus giving the impression it's
reliable. -- Geoff Lane

"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).