The fleet of the Munich airport fire brigade was enlarged by two Magirus-Faun airfield fire engines, type: LF 1412 / 52V 8 × 8. The constantly increasing air traffic and the use of wide-bodied aircraft made it necessary to purchase these vehicles. The extent to which new dimensions had to be thought when purchasing fire engines is evident from the fact that, for example, the tanks of a Boeing 747, the jumbo jet, approx. Hold 180,000 liters of fuel. A lot that a VW Beetle could have covered a distance of around 2 million kilometers.

Technical specifications:

The “Jumbo” fire engine is powered by two air-cooled Deutz diesel engines installed in the rear, each with an output of 500 HP - the maximum output was 1,000 HP. It enabled the four-axle, almost 12 m long, 3 m wide and 4.15 m high vehicle - even with the permissible total weight of approx. 52 tons a top speed of 107 kilometers per hour.

Despite its heavy weight, the LF 1412 accelerated from 0 to 80 km in just 37 seconds. Or to put it another way: from the stand it was possible to cover a distance of one kilometer in 55 seconds. The turning circle was around 34 meters. The extinguishing systems were designed in such a way that, after arriving at the scene of the fire, all kinds of fires can be fought quickly and effectively by suddenly using the extinguishing agents carried. The fire fighting could continue unabated even after the failure of an engine, since the vehicle is still fully drivable and pumpable. This fact in particular was to be seen as a decisive advantage of the chosen vehicle concept.

The entire order was at the time from the company Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz in Ulm taken over, which created the entire fire-fighting equipment and supplied the 500 hp engines. The special chassis was made by the company Faun from Lauf ad Pegnitz (Today: Tadano Faun), manufactured.

The tank structure held 18,000 liters of water. Inside the self-supporting plastic water tank there was also a foam compound tank with a capacity of 2,000 liters, so that the total amount of extinguishing agent carried was a maximum of 20,000 liters.

The airport fire brigade's largest fire engine to date, on the other hand, only had a capacity of 5-500 liters plus 500 liters of foaming agent.

The crew of the large fire engine, a driver and up to 3 men, could use the turning jet pipe (company Sides, Saint Nazaire in France) for foam operation. Up to 6,000 liters per minute were ejected through the pipe at a throw distance of up to around 70 m.

Two foam pipes installed on the left and right of the large fire engine for quickly fighting smaller fires completed the extinguishing system. With the two large fire engines chassis no .: 2302/0513 u. / 0515, year of construction: 1972 Flughafen München GmbH had a total of 8 fire fighting vehicles with a water capacity of approx. 50,000 liters and a powder quantity of 3,000 kg. This complied with the minimum extinguishing agent quantities set by the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization), taking into account the volume of traffic. More than 40 firefighters ensured safety in this area at Munich-Riem Airport.

Costs:

The purchase price for the two large fire engines, which represent the latest development in the airport fire fighting vehicle sector, is approx. DM 800,000.

Whereabouts:

One of the two Magirus-Faun airfield fire engines is in a private fire service vehicle collection in Memmingen. The type: LF 1412 chassis no .: 2302/0513 u. / 0515, built in 1972, is still ready to drive and was for sale on eBay classifieds in November 2015.