Aero Union’s Past Demonstrated Ability
~ contributed by cbk
We received this lovely little piece of historical documentation of the tanker operations — for 37 years — of Aero Union’s fleet, including its P-3 Orions flying out of Chico in northern California. The much-missed red/white P-3 ships were the last of a long line of Aero Union’s many airtankers, the red/white icons of aerial firefighting. Not many companies have a history so impressive.
Aero Union airtanker operations 1960 – 1997
4 Comments
I am pretty sure Walt & Brian were in Coeur d’ Alene with a P-3 a couple years.
I miss Walt.
I imagine everyone who knew him misses Walt.
fireaviation.com/2013/11/16/walt-darran-rest-in-peace/
my mom went to high school with one of the pilots with them,, Norm Cook.
Thanks to you and ‘cbk’ for this post, Kelly. I fought a fire near Cherry Lake, just outside of Yosemite National Park, in 1973. During our first shift, which was 37 hours long, our CDF hand crew was cutting line on the top of a ridge with a B-17 making drops below us. He was eye level with us and not very far out, and the sound of those four big radial engines is something I’ll never forget. Here it is, more than 50 years later, and I still remember the experience like it was yesterday.
Now, thanks to this post, I know it was probably an Aero Union B-17 out of Redding or Chester we were working next to. I would love to know if any of the fight crew of that plane are still around so I could tell them what that experience meant to me. It was pretty darn special and a big part of my young life.
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