A little over 10 years ago, I had seen a few references on the internet to Douglas DC-7 aircraft that were (and still are) used as tankers. I had always been interested in the Douglas series of aircraft, so I asked an aviation historian friend and former tanker pilot if he could help me find more information on the DC-7 Tankers. To make a long story short, he introduced me to Larry Kraus over e-mail who was the Captain (Pilot-in-Command) of T-62, under contract with the State of Oregon. What followed was an e-mail correspondence lasting about six to eight months.
Through this e-mail correspondence, Larry, who had been the PIC of T-62 for some 20 years by this time, took me up close and personal inside the DC-7 through his photos and our correspondence. He showed me the controls of the aircraft, inside and out, including the controls for dropping retardant, see this article I wrote in December 2009 for the summary of the first series I wrote, up close and personal with a DC-7 tanker. That series included several articles with some of Larry's wonderful photos of T-62. I offer it as a reference for those of you who might be interested in spending some time learning about the DC-7 tanker. I believe that T-62 continues to fly under contract with the State of Oregon with a different PIC as I believe that Larry has since retired.
I am very grateful for the time that Larry spent with me over e-mail, I can adequately describe how much I learned from Larry. He was kind and patient, answering my many questions. Thank-you Larry! I am no longer in touch with Larry, but his words and photos have stayed with me over the years. I understand that each type of tanker will operate a differently, but he did give me a good introduction to what it is like to fly fires.
Of the many articles that I wrote about T-62 with Larry’s help, the one that I hope you look at is a series that I wrote in March 2010, DC-7 Tankers in Action. I had sent him a video of T-62 and her sister DC-7 Tanker, T-66. Larry took some time, checking his logs and some photos from a lead plane, to describe what we were seeing in the video, where he annotated some of these photos. The result was this series on DC-& Tankers in Action. But first please take a couple of minutes to read this article where Larry described how he worked with a lead plane
I have blogged about aerial wildland firefighting since 2009. I am not a firefighter and am not a pilot, just an interested bystander who wants to learn more and share what I learn here. Join me here as I blog on the aircraft and the pilots who fight wildland fires from the air in support of crews on the ground. I also blog on concerns affecting fire crews on the ground as well as other aviation and meteorology issues. Learn what it takes to do jobs that are staffed by the best of the best.
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