A few pictures from Butler Aircraft

[RNDMTRS4EVR]

Larry;
When do you guys start on contract? Sure has been cool and wet here in Wyoming this spring, a welcome change for many ranchers to say the least.
Scott.........

[Canso42]

Whoa! This has been one of the most fascinating threads I can remember. Great stuff Jack and I'll add my thank you for taking so much time with it. This has been like kicking back with a good airplane book with lots of pix.
That big old Coleman tug on page two or three looked awfully familiar. We use one at Lone Star for the B-17 and a couple of other big birds. Keep those Dougs flying!

Canso42

[Larry Kraus]

Things have turned interesting over the past two or three weeks.The first thing to happen was that Butler now has Tanker 66 on a Cal Fire (aka CDF) contract in Chico.It was supposed to go on duty June 16th,but was called on a few days early because of the fire activity in Northern California.The regular Crew for Tanker 66,Brian Lash and Rick Langstrom,needed a few days to tie up loose ends,so my co-pilot,Ron Carpinella and I were drafted into taking T66 to Chico on the 12th.

We ended up very busy from the start and flew 22 loads to the Humbolt Fire that was just southeast of Chico.We flew 8 loads to it on the 12th and didn't get going until after 1530.Then another 12 loads on the 13th and just a couple on the 14th.Wedidn't fly on the 15th,but we did have 3 dispatches that were cancelled prior to starting engines on that day.Brian and Rick took over on the 16th.I had my camera with me,but there wasn't time to dig it out as part of the fire was practically in the airport traffic pattern and smoke was also an intermittent problem.

At the moment,I'm covering Tanker 60 for the ODF (Oregon Department of Forestry) in Redmond.The ODF contract was supposed to start in Redmond on July 4th and until 48 hours ago,they were planning to hold off starting Tanker 62 in Medford until July 14th.The weekend forecast calls for 100 degree plus temps with thunderstorms in Oregon.We'll see.The crew for Tanker 60 that is to be based in Redmond is to arrive for training and checkrides as of late this evening.Tanker 62 is still in maintenance and might be ready to trade out for T60 by morning.

With my c/p and I having to make multiple trips to Medford with our cars and trailers to get set for fire season and being the only crew available for maintenance test flights,it has been a busy week.I did take some pictures at the Chico Tanker Base and of Aero Union's P-2 boneyard.There was also a USAF C-130 doing tests of the new MAAFS tank system at Chico.There is a Grumman AF at Chico,but it was on the other end of the ramp and we were on a short leash.We taxied by it a few times.It is sitting stripped of paint and without an engine with the wings folded.I took a very long shot of it sitting next to the C-130 when I was trying out my new telephoto lens.It looks a bit like a wide silver capital "H" in the picture.I also have one very long shot of the end of a drop in T66 on the Humboldt Fire that someone sent me.We were dropping in a canyon next to some homes and the last door is open as we clear the canyon.



































And for all of you Pirate types,this is hanging in the ready room at Chico

Last edited by Larry Kraus on Mon Jun 30, 2008 12:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Jack Cook]

this is hanging in the ready room at Chico

so that what the Navy did with Col Rohr
Great stuff Larry!!!

[Canso42]

Been thinking of you the last few days watching the news. You guys be careful, Larry.
Doug R.

[Canso42]

Nice turbo COD, #88. Wish ours looked that good. Is that a tanker?

[Canso42]

Larry, I might have missed it in this bodacious pictorial (more) but is any one of the DC's "your" aircraft?
Doug

[Larry Kraus]

Doug,
The S-2 is a Marsh Aviation conversion of an S-2G and carries up to 1200 gallons of retardant in a constant flow (single door computerized) tank system.I'll add a few additional shots here."My DC-7" is Tanker 62.At least I've been flying it since 1983.I've ended up flying all three of Butler's DC-7 in the last month and just test flew Tanker 62 a couple of hours ago and traded T60 for it on the ODF contract.The other crew and our relief pilot can now finish their training and check rides in Tanker 60 starting tomorrow.I've flown more in Tanker 66 this year with about 12 hours in it.















This isn't the highest quality,but it's a nice picture that I borrowed from Butler's archive.

[Tillerman]

I love this thread, especially the pieces about the piston powered aircraft, with the DC-7 and the Neptune being my favorite.
Every now and then I like to dig into the history of a particular aircraft, either in my books or on the net. But it causes me headaches to tie the tanker numbers to their registrations.

The website of Ruud Leeuw has an Air Tanker Identification list for those interested.

http://www.ruudleeuw.com/airtanker-id.htm

Tillerman.

[Canso42]

Larry, thanks for taking time out from what sounds like a pretty hectic schedule right now. Nice photo of the DC lineup. Nice composition. Normally I'm not a fan of turb-whine conversions but I have to admit (put on helmet and duck) that the S-2/C-1's look much cleaner of line than with the Cyclones.

Tillerman, thanks for the link to Ruud's list. I've emailed with him on PBY@yahoogroups.com before. He has quite an interesting variety of stuff.

You know, this thread could be printed up into an interesting read. Sounds like a good project.

Doug

[RNDMTRS4EVR]

Larry;
Thanks for the photos, The P-2s now belong to some guy in Fla. I'm told. He traded Aero Union a bunch of T-56's for them, he has had them listed in Trade-A-Plane a couple of times. It has been getting toasty here in Wyoming, our fire season shall soon be upon us. Be SAFE out there.
Scott.........

[Larry Kraus]

I spent the last week on standby for the ODF (Oregon Dept of Forestry) in Redmond.I didn't fly on any fires,but Tankers 43 and 25 worked a couple of Fed fires out of RDM.I took the opportunity to get some interior shots of these birds,which I will post eventually.I'm off for 3 days while Gene Teske covers Redmond,which is really his base,in Tanker 60.I'll cover RDM on Monday (July 7th) while T60 is used to get someone a DC-7 type rating.I'll end up at my base (Medford) with T62 around July 14th.I started out on duty in T60 as T62 wasn't ready.We switched to T62 after a test flight after duty hours last Saturday.

Here's Tanker 60 in Pit 1 at Redmond last week





This picture is in Tanker 62 during our test flight at empty cruise power.The colors on the GPS map are terrain warnings.



Here's Tanker 62 in Pit 1 after the switch





One item that I get a kick out of in Redmond is this gate/fence,which I suspect was designed by the Border Patrol







Here are some pictures of Aero Union's P-3 Tanker 25 at Redmond

































Here's Doug Griffin,the pilot of Tanker 25



I tried to take pictures in a walk around,but the light conditions weren't the best

















I took a few pictures from inside T62 looking toward the other loading pits the other day while T25 was flying.The King Air is the leadplane from Wenatchee

[RNDMTRS4EVR]

Larry;
Keep the pictures going, it is GREAT!!
Scott......

[Obergrafeter]

Those gates make me wonder if they have AGGIES in California!

[engguy]

This is the best thread I've seen in along time.
The recips are the best for fire fighting, they throttle faster than jets and turbo props will.

Who does the engine overhauls for these DC-7's?