I had the opportunity to stop by and visit the Aerial Firefighting Museum as I was passing through Greybull last week. The museum is trying desperately to raise enough funds, $900k, to keep some of the Hawkins and Powers aircraft in Greybull as part of the museum. So far they are not getting much support from the community and unless an angel steps forward it is unlikely that they will be able to purchase any of the aircraft prior the the auction on the 22nd and 23rd of this month.
The Museum Curator, Ralph Reiner, also expressed concern that the aircraft that were not picked up by collectors or museums would be sold as scrap. By my count there were 6 C130's, 2 PB4Y's, 8 P2V's, 5 C-97's, 4 C-119's, 1 C-118, and a C-123 out in the backfield. That was in addition to the 2 C-119's, C82, C-130, PB4Y, C-97, Lockheed Lodestar, and A-26 that was on the ramp.
The Aerial Firefighting Museum would like to keep atleast one example of each of the aircraft that flew out of Greybull but would rather see them sent away to other museums than scrapped. The museum is a 501 (3) (c) corporation and can write a tax deductable reciept for up to $1 million.
Rick Pisio
Here's a few photos from my visit.
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