My Dad (Right in 1983 and second from Left in 84) in Ketchikan with the Slafco crew. Photo credit: Don "Bucky" Dawson
Myself circa 1981, with Dad '83, '85

Me and my buddy Smilie. 1976 CAP cadets. We both retired Ltc C130 pilots.

Jake Papp - looks like you are still wearing your cub scout belt??

Zane - what's with the "plywood" sticker on your grand dad's plane??

patrol guy wrote:Zane - what's with the "plywood" sticker on your grand dad's plane??

Granddad's business was building plywood mills.

My friend Stewart Bass, complete with pencil thin mustache. Seated in his TBM Avenger during WW II. Stew received the Navy Cross for combat action during which he sank a Japanese cruiser......A gentleman to this day, and now age 92. Drop by the Fargo Air Museum, and you'll likely see him standing beside their TBM, and he'll tell you everything you ever wanted to know about that machine.

a bicycle hauler



one OPB pilot would show up at the local bar on Sunday afternoons with his "dirt track" bush wheels...

Mom,Dad,sister,and me when the Paullina IA airport was dedicated on Fouth of July 1965. We lived at Paullina for a year in 63/64 and Dad was one of the airport promoters. We flew the 172 from Virginia where I lived most of my youth.

Okay, one last batch of vintage helicopter photos. My early flying was all in helicopters as a kid on a USFS helitack crew. Later on...in the 1980's...I worked on three different Spruce Budworm spray projects in Washington and Oregon. It was some of the most fun I ever had in my life but you couldn't get me to do it today even with a 45. In fact the FS probably wouldn't allow anyone to do it today for safety reasons.

The stuff sprayed was only lethal to moths and caterpillars and they had to eat it. They only eat during one of about 5 stages they go through in the worm state. Entomologists surveyed the timber areas each day to determine when the worms were ready to eat. The forest was broken up into spray blocks we marked from the air by hanging orange flagging in the tree tops.

I sat in the back of a Jet ranger and the pilot would pick out a good target tree to hang a ribbon in and make an approach to it as if he was going to land right in the top of the tree. He would flare about 10 feet away and I would throw the flagging which had a couple 2 inch washers tied on with 3 foot string. The whole thing accordion folded into a 3 inch square.

We would start the spraying at 30 minutes before sunrise and be able to spray for maybe 2 hours before the sun would cause the spray to start rising instead of falling or the wind would start to stir. My job was to chase the sprayers in a Jet ranger to help them find the spray blocks and keep them on the spray lines which could be a couple miles long. I got to be really good at reading contour maps and aerial photos. I also watched the spray nozzles to make sure one wasn't plugged or something. They were paid by the gallon and it worked out to about $1000 per minute of boom time for a Bell 205 or 212. Air speed was about 100mph and just a couple feet above the tree tops.

This is how the spray pattern should look. Helijet Bell 212




Flagging in the tree top. This is one I had hung and on a groomed snowmobile route. It stayed there for about 5 years. I would point it out to others when we were snowmobiling in the winters after that and say, "I hung that ribbon up there". It made for some good stories.


Stopping to clear a plugged nozzle. Tyee Airlines, Ketchikan. Bell 212


Sometimes I chased two sprayers. Helijet 212 and 205


Empty heading to the truck for another load.


Spooging up. That's what the pilots called the spray.

Sorry Zane, while looking for old airplane pixs, I came across my life before flying (BF). It was all whitewater, and this was the typical start to a weekend. I had a phoenix kayak (out of view), then the C-2, open canoe, solo canoe. The tandem boats were a way to pick up chicks, but if they didn't know what they were doing, you could pay dearly. Airplanes work better for that.

patrol guy wrote:Sorry Zane, while looking for old airplane pixs, I came across my life before flying (BF). It was all whitewater, and this was the typical start to a weekend. I had a perception kayak (out of view), then the C-2, open canoe, solo canoe. The tandem boats were a way to pick up chicks, but if they didn't know what they were doing, you could pay dearly. Airplanes work better for that.

The old Volvo matches your Scout! Sweet!

Sorry Z, can't resist. I've got a photo to go along with patrol guys...
4 kayaks and a cataraft.



I haven't been able to find my photo album yet. Only pic I've got right now is this one of my Grandpa with his 8A at the Mackay, ID airport. ca. 1947



Know I've got one with my dad and his 8F and me with my 8E before the restoration...everything after the restoration isn't vintage because it was taken digital.

whee wrote:Know I've got one with my dad and his 8F and me with my 8E before the restoration...everything after the restoration isn't vintage because it was taken digital.

And these of course:

http://www.backcountrypilot.org/news/ar ... ar-my-call

what a story Zane!

Another float plane drag off the grass... 80's...



Early picture of my grandfather (in the front) and his J3 after a Coyote hunt... Early 50's..??

Brian.

My Dad, c1943.
(Third from left, standing)
He went on to fly 47 missions as B24 & B17 pilot as part of the 406NLS in England. They flew solo missions only at night.
After he came home, he hung up his wings and went to work. About 25 years ago, after I had just bought my first plane, to surprise him, I wrote to the FAA to request a copy of his long lost pilots license. ( He had converted his military license to a civilian one somehow after the war, but never used it.)
I got him the new license, but the ratings were for only Multi-engine, commercial & instrument. No SEL!. He was legal to fly a multi, but not my Cherokee. Go figure. He never bothered to pursue it.
Pete

off topic but I read this last weekend:
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Su ... 1400064163

An Olympic runner during the 1930s, he flew B-24s during WWII. Taken prisoner by the Japanese, he endured a captivity harsh even by Japanese standards and was a physical and mental wreck at the end of the war.


Rocket

rocket wrote:off topic but I read this last weekend:
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Su ... 1400064163

An Olympic runner during the 1930s, he flew B-24s during WWII. Taken prisoner by the Japanese, he endured a captivity harsh even by Japanese standards and was a physical and mental wreck at the end of the war.


Rocket

A hard book to read, but an amazing testament to the strength of the human spirit. That gentleman, who is still alive today went through unbelievable hardships, yet came out of the war without bitterness.

Incredible story....you need to read it.

MTV

Just now watching National News and they announce and interview him with Angelina Jolie who is directing a movie about him. Pretty cool, oh and they can see each others house from their decks.

Louie Zamperini recently spoke to a friend of mine's command group in San Diego. Really impressive!









(another great story, at the 1936 Olympics, Louie raided the Reich Chancellery during the night, climbed a flag pole and stole a Nazi flag)