Above: T-93 departs Medford, Oregon for the Klamathon Fire in California. All photos by Tim Crippin July 5, 2018.
Tim Crippin took these photos July 5 of eight air tankers that were fighting the Klamathon Fire and reloading at Medford, Oregon.
As of Friday morning the fire just across the state line in California had burned approximately 8,000 acres and multiple structures. A civilian who has not yet been identified died in the fire.
Above: Tanker 95 departs from Medford. Photo by Tim Crippin.
Tim Crippin sent us these photos of CAL FIRE air tankers 94 and 95 loading and departing out of Medford, Oregon on June 18 while the tankers were working the Bogus Fire near Copco Lake in Northern California.
Thanks Tim!
Tanker 95 reloads at Medford. Photo by Tim Crippin.
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.
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)
We spent some time yesterday at the Redding Air Attack Base in California and shot photos of the aircraft and will be posting them over the next few days. Here are a few to get started. Click on the photos to see slightly larger versions.
T-94 and T-95 at RDD 8-7-2014AA-240 and AA-505 (OV-10s) and the Coulson support rig at RDD 8-7-2014AA-120, an OV-10, landing at RDD 8-7-2014California National Guard Chinook at RDDTwo Cobras and a Sherpa at RDD , 8-7-2014
All of the photos were taken by Bill Gabbert and are protected by copyright.
We had an opportunity to photograph some of the aircraft at McClellan Air Force base today. Click on the photos to see larger versions.
CAL FIRE S2Ts at McClellan AFB March 17, 2014. Photo by Bill Gabbert.CAL FIRE OV-10s at McClellan AFB March 17, 2014. Photo by Bill Gabbert.P3s at McClellan AFB March 17, 2014. Photo by Bill Gabbert.P3 at McClellan AFB March 17, 2014. Anyone know why this aircraft has “MAFFS Protection from Above” painted on it? Photo by Bill Gabbert.P3s at McClellan AFB March 17, 2014. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
Two DC-7 air tankers and an S-2T air tanker at Paso Robles Air Tanker Base, January 19, 2014. CAL FIRE photo.
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, 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.
