Miss Montana, in case you didn’t know, was the jump ship at Mann Gulch in 1949. Her story’s here. The [late] tanker pilot Chuck Ott of Alaska and Montana fame used to say in his retirement years that he’d really like to fly a DC-3 one more time before he died. I don’t think he got to.
KPAX TV — the best broadcaster in Montana — has a terrific collection of info and photos online. And thanks to Connor and EAA.org for the heads-up!
Miss Montana and her crew welcomed us on board at the Normandy 75th anniversary at Duxford England looking forward to see them again on the 80th 2024,Keep up the wonderful work you do and a Happy Holiday to you all this Christmas
A number of C-47s arrived at Utapao, Thailand in April of 1975, which was the evacuation of South Vietnam. A few of them were gunships, but most that I saw were cargo configurations with aft doors about the size of a standard USAF pallet. I wonder of any of those made it to the States to fly for wildland fires? PS – I’m sorry that Chuck Ott probably didn’t get his wish. I still a few DC-3s at various airports up here in Alaska, mostly hauling fish or fuel. I have no idea how many are in the Lower-48 flying fires.
No, I was riding in N3FY, one of Salair’s airplanes. I have a lot of photos of that event,both on the ground and in the air, but I can’t seem to find a way to post them here.
I think I’m getting really old, I flew in the 50th Anniversary flight over Vancouver, B.C. when I was already in my late 30s.
WOW Bill, that’s excellent! Were you flying a DC-3 ? (People love to say time flies, but they don’t really get it till they’re old themselves, eh?) I don’t suppose you have a photo of the 50th do you?