Museum of Flight & Aerial Firefighting near Greybull, Wyoming. PBS image.PBS in Wyoming has produced a seven-minute overview of Hawkins & Powers, a Wyoming-based organization that a couple of decades ago was one of the largest companies operating firefighting air tankers.
The story is told in the video below by Bob Hawkins while at the Museum of Flight & Aerial Firefighting near Greybull, Wyoming.
If you have not been to the museum, you should put it on your list. Location: just west of Greybull, Wyoming on the north side of highway 14 adjacent to the South Bighorn County airport. Lat, 44.509810; Lon, -108.084761
Museum of Flight and Aerial Firefighting, Tanker 127, a PB4Y-2. May 26, 2014. Photo by Bill Gabbert.Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Gerald.
22 Comments
Got to work around Bob back in the day when he was flying helicopter contracts. Helluva nice guy.
Thanks, was it around Wyoming?
Wy, CO and SD. I was on a EU helitack crew out of Denver and did a lot of helibase stuff in the region. Didn’t you fly the Washakie contract? Or Black Hills?
I have flown on both contracts over the years. Both had great people to work with and for.
I learned most of my flying skills while at H&P. I was an honor to work for them. My best friends were and are from that family.
Hay Mike, I’ve been Wondering how your doing
If you ever make it to Tucson, give me a call.
email me at firepilotmike@gmail.com
Hay Mike, I’ve been Wondering how your doing
If you ever make it to Tucson, give me a call.>
My friend Mark Powers died while bringing one of those boneyard beasts back to greybull from az…
Died too young….gone, but not forgotten
Maybe Taylor Sheridan producer of Yellowstone ought to do an equivalent of the Hawkins and Powers on the ranches of Thermopolis, Greybull, Shell and Worland areas….betcha that could get to be a colorful made for TV event…..just thinking out loud here.
Very informative. Proud to say I’ve been under drops from some of those aircraft in the 1960’s.
4000 gallons on those H&P C-97’s!
Has anyone seen the H&P C-130’s (in pieces) in Arizona? Benson maybe?
It was very nice to see Bob again (even if not in person) after 40 years!
I was luck enough to fly with Bob daily in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s while he and H&P were under contract with SSC doing seismic exploration around the Rocky Mountains.
Bob flew their Hughes 500d and John Moberly, their Chief Pilot at the time, flew the Allouette III for us.
It was a young aviation enthusiast’s Dream Job!
Thank you for bringing us the story and link to the video!
Best Regards,
Doug Kemstra
doug.kemstra@hotmail.com
doug.kemstra@gmail.com
Found this blog and felt the need to post. John Moberly was my step brother. I was in Greybull for the birth of my niece Michelle in 1970. I was there again 5 or 6 years later for the birth of my nephew Shaun. At that time, John took me up in a helicopter he took up for a test flight. Loved it. The last time I was in Greybull was for Johns memorial service in 2012. An aviation company (former helicopter division of H&P ?) flew a helicopter in for the occasion. My brothers best friend Jerry Ewen flew my niece and nephew into the Bighorn Mountains to scatter his ashes. A very belated thanks to all involved. My brother loved flying, and loved H&P.
Thank you very much for sharing Joe! I had the deepest respect for John while he was our pilot and proud to say he was my friend. We had some amazing adventures working in and around the Rocky Mountains, all sorts of terrain, almost any kind of weather – winter, summer, spring and fall.
I bought a 1979 Chevy Blazer around 1982 and John helped me put an Edelbrock aluminum intake manifold on it along with a Holley 4-barrel carb and a beefy brush guard. He was an awesome guy and I was very sorry to find his obituary a few years ago.
Oh, the flying stories I could tell his kids! 🙂
H&P had two contracts in Minnesota during the 80’s and 90’s and I worked with several fine and dedicated tanker pilots. Bill “Igor” Blakeman was one of those. As a fledgling Air Attack in the early 90’s, Bill took time to mentor me about aviation and aerial firefighting and helped me polish my target descriptions when not much training was available to me.
Then there was my good friend, Steve Wass who I worked many a fire and spent many an evening in the local establishments with. One night at the bar in the Holiday Inn, Bemidji, he said to me, I’m not coming back to fly the Neptune anymore, they’re putting me on the Herc. I congratulated him as I thought of it as an upgrade. He said, well, I don’t know, the wings tend to fall off of them. Still haunts me to this day. RIP Stevie.
Bob,
You look great, you’ve aged well. I probably haven’t seen you since 1984.
Great to hear from you Fred. Hope all is good with you. It has been many years since the last time we were both in Sheridan.
Bob
Lots of stories in the early days of H&P tankers.
4Ys and Boxcars
Congratulations on your Wyoming Aviation Hall of Fame selection
Hi Bob.
Haven’t seen you since you were spraying grasshoppers in Sheridan in 1984. Hope all is well with you.
Hi Bob. Made friends with Gene while working our B25 R2600 engines. Lost touch and would like to reconnect. Can you help?
Gene and his wife have been moved to Sheridan, WY. You might contact his son Duane his number is 307-272-3665 or 307-765-2318.
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