Greybull, Wyoming

Jerzy encouraged me to post this one! As I told him, my only photos in remote areas of Wyoming featured aircraft!
Hawkins & Powers was a company based at the South Big Horn County airport, Greybull and which acquired older aircraft to convert into aerial firefighters. Some remained on the field for many years without being converted and this Boeing KC-97L was one of them. The first time I had seen this particular aircraft was in March of 1973. I had managed to wangle myself a flight aboard a KC-97L of the Texas Air National Guard on an air to air refueling mission over Germany. Only two of the expected four F4 Phantoms turned up but nevertheless it got me a flight of 1 hour, 46 minutes in a very special aircraft. On landing back at Frankfurt we parked next to 30350, a serial number I always remembered as that was my then wife’s birthday!
After a series of fatal accidents the United States Forest Service cancelled all its contracts with companies operating older aircraft in 2004 and Hawkins & Powers went into liquidation the following year.
This shot was taken on April 29, 1989 with a Pentax SFX equipped with a Pentax F 35-70mm lens. Film was the inimitable Kodachrome 64. Scanned on an Epson V330 flatbed.
The aircraft’s two auxiliary jet engines had been removed by this time.

Paul.