T-66 Archives - Fire Aviation

Oregon air tankers

Bill GabbertJune 30, 2017Fixed wing, HelicoptersH-703, T-05, T-62, T-66, T-8042 Comments

Above: Tanker 62 in Madras, OR.

Todd McKinley shot these photos June 29 at various locations in Oregon. Thanks Todd!

Firefighting aircraft at the Range Fire in California

Bill GabbertAugust 30, 2016August 30, 2016Fixed wing, HelicoptersCalifornia, H-408, Range Fire, T-12, T-662 Comments

Range Fire air tanker — Air tanker 66 on the Range Fire, August 27, 2016. Photo by Trey Spooner.

We have some excellent photos of aircraft that worked the Range Fire on August 27 six miles east of Arvin, California — thanks to Trey Spooner and the Kern County Fire Department. The fire burned 518 acres and is 100 percent contained.

Kern County’s Helicopter 408, a Bell UH-1H, made 81 water drops at the fire on August 26.

H-408 Range Fire — H-408 on the Range Fire, August 26, 2016. Trey Spooner photo.

Photos of air tankers on the Goose Fire

Bill GabbertAugust 5, 2016August 4, 2016Fixed wingCalifornia, Goose Fire, T-132, T-40, T-66, T-76, T-83

Above: Air Tanker 66, a DC-7

These photos were taken by Bob Martinez, a Volunteer in Prevention Photographer with CAL FIRE. They were taken on the Goose Fire near Prather, California, about 18 miles northeast of Fresno. Thanks Bob!

The Goose Fire has burned 2,241 acres and 4 homes and is approaching containment.

air tanker 132 — Air tanker 132, an L-382G

air tanker 40 — Air tanker 40, a BAe-146

Air tankers at Medford

Bill GabbertAugust 3, 2015August 3, 2015Fixed wingMedford, Oregon, T-10, T-131, T-160, T-162, T-43, T-666 Comments

Tim Crippin took these photos on July 31 of air tankers at Medford, Oregon. Thanks Tim!

New paint for Tanker 66

Bill GabbertMarch 20, 2015Fixed wingDC-7, MD-87, T-101, T-60, T-66, T-943 Comments

T-66 new paint — New paint for Tanker 66. Photo on March 19, 2015 at Medford, Oregon. Photo by Tim Crippin.

Tim Crippin sent us the photo above of Erickson’s Tanker 66, saying it just returned to Medford, Oregon after getting a new paint job at Phoenix Goodyear Airport.

The photo below is what it looked like a year ago. It is our understanding that Tanker 60 will get the same paint scheme very soon.

DC-7 air tankers at Paso Robles Air Tanker Base — Two DC-7 air tankers and an S-2T air tanker at Paso Robles Air Tanker Base, January 19, 2014. CAL FIRE photo.

The paint is similar to the three Erickson MD-87s:

Tanker 101, an MD-87, during the grid retardant test, January 15, 2014. Photo by Jeff Zimmerman. (click to enlarge)

Air tanker fleet beefed up in California

Bill GabbertJanuary 19, 2014January 29, 2016Fixed wingCalifornia, T-60, T-66, T-910, T-9415 Comments

There is an extremely rare site in the photo above, at least in recent years — two DC-7 air tankers on active duty at an air tanker base in California. CAL FIRE has arranged for them to be on contract so that their 23 S-2T air tankers can rotate in for their annual maintenance. The wildland fire season in the state does not appear to be ending, so they had to do something to provide the needed maintenance for their airborne firefighting fleet while the fire danger remains high.

The state of Oregon routinely uses DC-7 air tankers, but the federal government stopped contracting for them a number of years ago.

Air Tanker 66 at Paso Robles Air Attack Base — Air Tanker 66, a DC-7, at Paso Robles Air Attack Base, January 19, 2014. CAL FIRE photo.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Forest Service in recent days has had a couple of P2V air tankers on duty. Yesterday Tanker 910, one of the two DC-10 11,600-gallon air tankers operated by 10 Tanker Air Carrier, was brought over from Albuquerque to be available at Santa Maria, California.

DC-10 air tanker landing at Santa Maria Air Tanker Base January 18, 2014. USFS cell phone photo.

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