Another common site in the SF east bay in the 1960s and early 70s were fire supression airplanes like this Grumman F7F Tigercat. Summer always brought with it the sound of rumbling radial engines and the F7F was the hottest hot rod in the air tanker fleet. I would blow the screen door off its hinges when a Tigercat went over the house. They were based at Santa Rosa and a few other bases in California. One of the surviving F7Fs participates at the Reno Air Races and it's a real crowd pleaser.
