Greybull, WY

Flying 150 feet above the ground, pilot Bob West maneuvers his giant KC97 Boeing as skillfully as a hawk swooping down from the sky to snatch its prey. The prey West attacks is fire.

Few are more tuned into fires than West and other employees of Hawkins and Powers Aviation Inc., an aerial firefighting company based in the farming and ranching community of Greybull, Wyo. (pop. 1,789). The company’s fleet of 40 massive airplanes makes an impressive sight at South Big Horn County Airport near Greybull, while the nearby World War II-vintage planes belong to the Museum of Flight and Aerial Firefighting, the nation’s first outdoor museum of aerial firefighting.

Hawkins and Powers is one of only 10 companies in the country specializing in firebombing missions—slurry bombing. All summer long, pilots take off from the extra-long, 6,000-foot runways to help put out fires around the country.

West is the only pilot certified to fly all the H&P aircraft, including 11 helicopters. West, who’s been a slurry bomber for 27 years, recalls one wildfire four years ago in central Nevada that was particularly hairy.

“We were the first plane to show up for a fire during a thunderstorm, and a ground crew was trying to protect some structures by building a fire line around them,” West says. “They wanted us to drop between them and the fire line. I decided to make the drop and then realized it was an uphill exit. As I started to climb, the plane was losing power and I had to drop the rest of the load in order to get enough lift.”

Under ideal circumstances, the planes “exit” downhill in order to get enough lift under their wings, West explains. The planes would stall if they didn’t develop enough lift.

The company, founded in 1969, serves clients such as the U.S. Forest Service and other government agencies and also contracts with farmers and ranchers, making it the second-largest agribusiness in Wyoming and the largest private employer in Greybull.

A museum dedicated to aerial firefighting seemed a natural outgrowth of the H&P business, says Genny Anders, the secretary-treasurer of H&P and a museum volunteer. Founded in 1987 by aircraft enthusiasts on county-donated land to preserve a part of aviation that otherwise would be overlooked, the outdoor museum consists of 14 planes: monocoops and C-119 troop carriers from World War II. Anders hopes the collection will be housed in a hangar some day.

The museum attracts thousands of visitors annually, including tour groups of veterans and schoolchildren, mostly from schools in the Big Horn Basin.

Five of the company’s 50 pilots live year-round in Greybull to respond at a moment’s notice to out-of-season fires. Last Christmas, a plane with two crew members helped fight a Santa Ana wildfire in southern California.

“They called us the day before, and I asked a couple of our guys if they would be willing to give up their Christmas for their country, and we sent out a plane with two guys on Christmas Day,” recalls Jim Stafford, director of training and flight safety. Other pilots come from across the country once a year for a month of ground, flight, and simulated training.

The planes they fly carry as much as 3,000 gallons of fire retardant in their bellies that can be dropped all at once or released gradually from its 18 doors, depending on terrain.

The freedom to fly unrestricted to different locations is why West continues to enjoy his job.

“You get to make the decisions on how to work the equipment. I prefer it to flying the same route from point A to point B. And the schedule is different every day. You never know where you’re going to go.”

Laurie Quade is a freelance writer in Cody, Wyo.

Upload Your Own Stories, Photos and Videos

Every week, American Profile magazine brings you stories that celebrate the people and places that make America great. Now we want to hear your stories and see your photos, videos and even audio.

 Start Uploading Now!

 

Discuss this Article