From land-based patrol bomber to firefighter: PB4Y-2s for Hawkins and Powers Aviation

I have long been familiar with the post-World War II use of the Martin JRM Mars giant flying boat as a firefighting aircraft, while reading about how aerial firefighting has come to be one of the many niches of the C-130 Hercules tactical transport in its peacetime non-military capacity, having remembered watching the local news back in June 2002 of the crash of one C-130A firefighting aircraft in Mono County, eastern California. During my visits to the Yanks Air Museum in Chino in the past, I saw a Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer languishing in the boneyard section of the museum, the first time I encountered this aircraft in person after seeing photos of this aircraft in several aviation books. While helping Joe Baugher update several webpages about US military aircraft, it transpired to me that a handful of Privateer aircraft were repurposed for use as firefighting aircraft by Hawkins and Powers Aviation not too long after being retired from service with the US Navy. Even though the Hawkins and Powers firefighting company was based in Wyoming, the history of PB4Y-2 operations with this company is worth discussing because the PB4Y-2 was built in San Diego, California, like the B-24 Liberator and PB4Y-1 navalized version of the B-24.

A PB4Y-2 aerial firefighting aircraft (ex-BuNo 59701, civil registration N6884C) in flight over Reno, western Nevada, in 1976. Note the Hawkins & Powers serial number 127 on the nose of the aircraft. 

Several books have been written about the operational career of the PB4Y-2 Privateer in the early 1950s (by which time PB4Y-2s in active service were redesignated P4Y-2 despite the P4Y designation having been applied to the Consolidated Model 31 Corregidor flying boat), but the story of the conversion of a handful of PB4Y-2s to aerial firefighting planes began in 1959, when several PB4Y-2s were declared surplus and earmarked for scrapping in the summer of 1958. The US Navy had retired its PB4Y-2/P4Y-2 fleet from service in 1954, but the US Coast Guard continued to operate several ex-USN Privateers in the search-and-rescue role (designated P4Y-2G) until 1958. In the second half of 1959, eight PB4Y-2 aircraft (BuNos 59701, 59882, 66260, 66261, 66300, 66302, 66304, and 66306) were acquired by aerial firefighting firm Christler & Avery Aviation of Greybull, Wyoming and seven were converted to aerial firefighters, necessitating modification of the bomb bays to carry 18,000 lb (8,164 kg) of fire-retardant chemicals, while the R-1830 Twin Wasp radial piston engines were replaced by Wright R-2600 Twin Cyclones. These aircraft, which were called Super Privateers, had short-stack exhausts which protruded around the circumference of the engine nacelles. The PB4Y-2 with BuNo 66261, while allocated the civil registration N7682C and the serial number 13 by Christler & Avery Aviation, was never converted to aerial firefighting configuration and instead used as a spare parts airframe to support the the PB4Y-2 firefighter fleet, which began firefighting operations in the western US in 1960. Meanwhile, Christler & Avery Aviation changed its name to Avery Aviation in 1961, and it was eventually bought out by Hawkins and Powers Aviation in 1969. The PB4Y-2s with BuNos 59701, 59882, 66260, 66300, 66302,  and 66304 were allocated the new serial numbers 127, 126, 123, 124, 121, and 122 by Hawkins and Powers, which also received one PB4Y-2 with civil registration N6813D (ex-BuNo 59876) that had been previously operated by Cisco Aircraft and another PB4Y-2 with civil registration N6816D (ex-BuNo 59792). Even before the purchase of Avery Aviation by Hawkins and Powers, one PB4Y-2 in use by Avery Aviation with civil registration N7974A (ex-BuNo 66306) was lost in an accident on July 22, 1968, when it hit a mountain near McGrath, Alaska, while en route to a forest fire, killing all four people aboard. 

The PB4Y-2 aerial firefighting aircraft serial number 124 (ex-BuNo 66300, civil registration N2872G) on display in the outdoor storage area of the Yanks Air Museum in Chino, California, photographed by me on May 19, 2018.

The PB4Y-2 aerial firefighter that I've seen at the outdoor storage area of the Yanks Air Museum, BuNo 66300, was one of 710 production PB4Y-2 aircraft (BuNos 66245/66394, 66795/67054, 76839/77138) ordered in late 1944, of which only 80 had been delivered by October 1945, the remainder on order canceled after V-J Day. The PB4Y-2 with BuNo 66300 was delivered to the Navy on August 31, 1945 and later assigned to storage at NAF Litchfield Park in Arizona from November 16, 1945 until August 1949. By the early 1950s, it was transferred to the US Coast Guard for search-and-rescue duties and converted to P4Y-2G configuration, serving in that capacity until 1958, when it was retired from active service with the USCG and transferred to CGAS Elizabeth City in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, for eventual disposal. BuNo 66300 was assigned the civil registration N2872G when sold to Ace Smelting in 1959, but was eventually spared from the breaker's torch along with a few other PB4Y-2s and sent to  Christler & Avery Aviation for conversion to Super Privateer configuration, receiving the serial number B24 and beginning firefighting operations in July 1960. After Hawkins and Powers Aviation acquired Avery Aviation, the aircraft was given the new serial number 124 in 1970, and it was used by the US Forest Service for extinguishing forest fires in and around Fairbanks, Alaska.

PB4Y-2 serial number 123 (ex-BuNo 66260, civil registration N7620C) crashing near Estes Park, Colorado, on July 18, 2002

Although the PB4Y-2s operated by Hawkins and Powers Aviation had success in putting out forest fires in western North America during their three decades of service with Hawkins and Powers Aviation, their operational career was marred by a few accidents. On July 27, 1972, N6816D was destroyed in flight while on approach to Wenatchee-Pangborn Field in Washington after fighting a local forest fire. On July 18, 2002, PB4Y-2 serial number 123 (BuNo 66260, civil registration N7620C) broke up in flight and crashed near Estes Park, Colorado, while fighting a forest fire in Rocky Mountain Regional Park, killing both crewmembers. The other PB4Y-2s operated by Hawkins and Powers Aviation and US Forest Service were withdrawn from operational service due to old age, and by 2005 Hawkins and Powers Aviation ceased operations. Three years later, the PB4Y-2 that had been given the serial number 124 by Hawkins and Powers Aviation was delivered to the Yanks Air Museum on November 23, 2008. It should be noted that PB4Y-2 serial number 122 (BuNo 66304) was damaged beyond repair after veering off the runway during a takeoff roll at Ramona Airport in Ramona, California, on August 27, 1980. The damaged aircraft was mated with remnants of BuNo 66261 and retained BuNo 66304 due to the fact that BuNo 66261 had been in derelict condition for over 20 years, but Hawkins and Powers had no need for any additional operational use of this aircraft, and the rebuilt PB4Y-2 was eventually given to the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida, where it resides today.

References:

Carey, A.C., 2005. Consolidated-Vultee PB4Y-2 Privateer: The Operational History of the U.S. Navy's World War II Patrol/Bomber Aircraft. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing.   

Veronico, N.A, and Ginter, S., 2012. Convair PB4Y-2/P4Y-2 Privateer (Naval Fighters Number 93). Simi Valley, CA: Ginter Books.