A few days ago, I was asked to start a thread concerning my collection of airtanker photo's. While this is by no means all of them, I figured these would be good for a start. Many of them have not see the light of day for over 40+ years. A majority of them are from my late fathers collection when he was flying out of Hemet-Ryan Air Attack Base. The rest are from my own collection that were taken during my working years. There are a few that I included that were in the collection, however, I am not sure where they came from. Knowing the pilots that Dad flew with, it could have been any one of them, so thanks to my extended family for thinking enough to preserve our heritage of aerial firefighting.
That being said, I have tried to provide some basic information regarding each image. Most of the images are from the early 60's up through the late 80's. I'll apologize right now for the quality of these. Like me, they are a bit worse for wear. I have attempted to clean them up as best I can, but I am in no way a photo guru. Enjoy!
Jim Stone, Tom Stein (Dad), Keith Sorrells, Marty Kosar and unknown, Oct 1969, Hemet Ca.
Hemet-Ryan as it looked in the very early 60's. This is looking West from the Hemet Valley Flying Service hanger.
Ramona AAB as it looked circa 1965.
Hemet Valley Flying Service lineup, Hemet Ca., 1965, Photo courtesy of the Steve Whitby Collection
Hemet Valley Flying Service lineup, Hemet Ca., 1965, Photo courtesy of the Steve Whitby Collection
Tanker 72 reloading at Hemet, Ca., May 1967
Tanker 96 and a 7 year old ramp rat. Hemet, Ca March 1967
Dad looking over the flightline, Hemet, Ca May 1970
HVFS lineup, May 1968
Resurfacing the reload pits, 1968
Tanker 97...there's that ramp rat again! Hemet, Ca December 1969
Dad looking over the flightline, Hemet, Ca May 1970
Working fire, Oct 1970, Hemet Ca
Something from the mid 60's, Hemet Ca.
Bad things happen when a tanker pilot forgets to shave!
....to be continued.
