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Tanker 85: No, this is not an early version of a "water-scooper" air tanker. This event occurred in the mid 1970's. Tanker 85 was dispatched from Medford, OR to a fire on the Deschutes N.F. in central Oregon. Tanker 85 made an initial trip, dropped its load, and then returned to Medford for a second load. The pilot "thought" he had enough fuel for a second trip so he didn't bother to refuel. On the second trip he was held up over the fire longer than he anticipated, finally dropped his load and then ran out of fuel on the way back to Medford. He managed to make a perfect, "dead-stick" landing in Diamond Lake near the crest of the Cascades (note Mt. Thielsen in the background). You can see how well an air tanker can float when it has empty fuel and retardant tanks!
To get the plane out of the lake they floated it close to shore and wrapped cables around both wings. The cables were attached to a D-8 Cat to drag the plane onto the shore. Needless to say, once tension was applied, the cables promptly sliced both wings off! That made the plane much easier to remove.
There's more to the story. When the plane was coming in to Diamond Lake the engines were off so they made no noise. Just as the pilot was setting down he noticed an older couple fishing in a rowboat directly in front of where he planned to splash down. The pilot was able to have enough lift/speed to "hop" over the couple by about 50 feet. The couple made a very hasty trip to shore. This incident was used in one of the opening scenes in the movie Always. As old pilots are fond of saying "Any landing you can walk....er, swim away from is a good landing." Photos compliments of AK Old Timer
Shay
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