AA-60 (MAZ-543) Aerodrome crash tender
The aerodrome fire-fighting version of the MAZ-543A, put into service in 1973 on Soviet airports and airbases. The foam cannon on the front was hand-operated at first, later hydraulic controls were mounted for easier (and safer) control.
On the rear, a foam spray bank could be installed to extinguish oil fires by driving over the oil spill.
The fire pumps in the rear were driven by a small diesel engine. These provided water to both the foam cannon and the hose manifold in the rear.
Specifications
- Crew capacity: 4 persons
- Max. speed ~ 55 km/h
- 4 gears: 3 forward, 1 backwards.
- 24.000 litre water tank
- 3.600 litre fuel tank
- 8×8 wheel drive
- Automatic braking
- Roof-mounted spotlight
- Alarm lights
- Realistic pump control
General operation and driving
- To start and drive the vehicle, simply enter the left-front cabin and press the ‘Start engines’ switch.
- W to throttle up, S to throttle down/brake.
- A/D for steering.
- Left/right, up/down moves the foam cannon around, moving left/right, and up/down respectively. Do take note, the foam cannon will not be able to spray unless the fire pumps in the rear of the vehicle are properly turned on.
- Blue alarm lights are set to ‘2’. Do take note, these drain a fair amount of electricity over time.
- Head- and fog lights are both controlled from the main dashboard. Press the respective flip switch.
- May the need for repairs arise, the right-hand cabin can be tilted forward for easier access of the main engines’ components.
- The tank can be refilled via a hose anchor on top of the tank.
Starting fire pumps
- Open the left-rear cabinet. This is the diesel engine that powers the fire pumps.
- Start the diesel by pressing the flip switch, increase throttle until RPS > 10.
- Open the right-rear cabinet. This is where the pumps and three additional hoses are placed.
- Open the valve coming directly from the water tank. The hose anchor may be used to supply the pumps from an external water tank.
- With the pumps running, open the rearmost cabinet. The pump manifold can be used to connect three hoses, and one fluid connector. Connect the fire hose to one of the hose anchors and open the valve.
- The fire hose is now supplied with water pressure!
- To use the foam cannon, simply press ‘1’ when in the driver’s seat.
I’ve tried to mimic most systems, especially the fire pumps. Be careful with steep slopes, especially at high speeds. The nose tends to take a beating when abruptly hitting a slope. As this is not the base version of this vehicle, the actual base version (the MAZ-7310) will be up soon, along with the MAZ-543A ‘SCUD-B’ missile launch platform.
