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picture below.) 
A small fire broke out on the crest of the Santa Ynex Mountains above Santa Barbara on Thursday, August 15, 2002. I drove up to East Camino Cielo to photograph the air tankers that were fighting it.
I stopped at the first peak where I could see tanker #161, a Douglas C-54G, circling the fire about a mile farther on. I stopped and shot pictures as it made a retardent drop.
C-54G N82FA, Tanker #161 drops
retardent on the Camino Fire.
Multiple exposure of C-54G N82FA,
Tanker #161 dropping retardent on the Camino Fire. (Four images
of the same C-54G tanker on a single pass over the fire.)
I parked just about 1/4 mile from the fire. There were two Bell 212s and a Sikorsky S-61N dropping water on the fire. A North American Turbo Commander, Air Attack circled overhead. Later a second Air Attack, this one a Beech Baron showed up, presaging the arrival of a Grumman S-2 Tracker, tanker #75 and the return of tanker #161. They made practice approaches and when they dropped their retardent, they were coming directly toward my shooting position.
I monitored the Forest Service frequencies on the scanner and lstened in on the communication between the pilots and the ground crews. At one point the ground crew referred to a fire near the big rock. The pilot responded with, "There's about 5,000 rocks on this mountain."
Sikorsky S-61N, N264F over the Camino Fire. It
is operated by Pacific Heli Tours of Maui. N264F has previously
carried the registrations G-BGWL, C-GMQF, N91047, C-GMQF, N611RM,
and C-FMAG.
Link to the Coulson Group page about this Sikorsky S-61N.
Bell 212, N508EH drops water on the Camino
Fire. It was at just the right angle from the sun to reveal the
colors of the rainbow. Red fire retardent has stained the
chapparal in the foreground.
Bell 212 N911KW over the Camino Fire. It is
operated by Rogers Helicopters of Fresno, California.
Bell 212 N911KW drops water on the Camino Fire.
Bell 212 N508EH drops water on the Camino Fire.
It is operated by Era Aviation of Anchorage, Alaska.
Era Aviation helicopter services web page
Two years ago N508EH made an emergency landing at John Day Airport in Oregon after sucking a compressor blade through the engine.
Bell 212 N508EH over the Camino Fire.
Sikorsky S-61N, N264F drops water
on the Camino Fire.
Grumman S-2 Tracker, N420DF, Tanker
#75 over the Camino Fire.
Air Attack Beech 65 Queen Air,
N7059H leads Grumman S-2 Tracker, N420DF, Tanker #75 over the
Camino Fire.
S-2, N420DF, Tanker 75 drops
retardent on the Camino Fire.
Multiple exposure of S-2, N420DF,
Tanker 75 dropping retardent on the Camino Fire. (Two images of
the same S-2 tanker and one image of the Beechcraft Queen Air
from a single pass over the fire.)
Bell 212, N508EH over the Camino Fire.
Sikorsky S-61N N264F drops water on
the Camino Fire.
Air Attack Beech 65 Queen Air,
N7059H leads Douglas C-54G N82FA, Tanker #161 over the Camino
Fire.
Douglas C-54G N82FA, Tanker #161
over the Camino Fire
Multiple exposure of Air Attack
Beech 65 Queen Air, N7059H leading Douglas C-54G N82FA, Tanker
#161 over the Camino Fire. There was a strong crosswind across
the ridge. (Three sets of images of the Queen Air and the C-54G
on a single practice pass over the fire.)
C-54G, N82FA, tanker 161 drops
retardent on the Camino Fire.
Multiple exposure of C-54G, N82FA,
tanker 161 dropping retardent on the Camino Fire. (Three images
of the same C-54G tanker and one image of the Queen Air from a
single pass over the fire.)
Douglas C-54G N82FA, Tanker #161
over the Camino Fire
Tankers Spotted at Camino Fire, August 15, 2002 |
||||||
| Number | Type | Registration | Operator | Home Base | c/n | military serial |
| Bell 212 | N911KW | Rogers Helicopters | 528 | |||
| Bell 212 | N508EH | Era Aviation | 30908 | |||
| Sikorsky S-61N | N264F | Pacific | Arroyo Grande | 61821 | ||
| 75 | S-2 | N420DF | CDF | Paso Robles | ||
| 161 | C-54G | N82FA | AeroFlite | Porterville | 35960 | 45-507 |
Aerial tankers
Visit the web site of
the Aerial
Firefighting Industry Association
Visit the web site of the Associated
Airtanker Pilots
The Cleveland National Forest web site provides specifications for the different types of aerial tankers.
You can buy a 2010 calendar featuring my photographs of Day Fire Tankers at Santa Barbara.
Aerial tankers fought the Day Fire from the Santa Barbara Air Attack Station for ten days, from Monday, September 18 to Wednesday September 27. Three Lockheed P-2 Neptunes and four Lockheed P-3 Orions visited the Air Attack Station during the fire. This calendar includes a dozen photos of those tankers:
Neptune Aviation Lockheed SP-2H Neptune, N4235T Tanker 09
Neptune Aviation Lockheed P2V-5F Neptune, N96264 Tanker 12
Neptune Aviation Lockheed P2V-5 Neptune, N1386C Tanker 44
Aero Union Lockheed P-3A-25 Orion, N920AU Tanker 20
Aero Union Lockheed P-3A-45 Orion, N921AU Tanker 21
Aero Union Lockheed P-3A-45 Orion, N922AU Tanker 22
Aero Union Lockheed P-3A-40 Orion, N925AU Tanker 25
Put a copy of the Day Fire Tankers at Santa Barbara: 2010 calendar in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $16.95.
Send a message to Brian.
Go to home page of the Goleta Air and Space Museum.