USA NORTHWEST 2014

~GREYBULL,WY~
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Copyright Ruud Leeuw Photos © R.Leeuw

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

In 2021 I learned that another attempt will be made to auction off these propliner hulks..
Some will go only for parts, some only for the fuselages. Bidding prices will start low, as scrap meatl prices are low and this location is very remote, making transport costs an issue for interested buyers.

UPDATE JAN.2022 (warbirdsnews.com):
"Back in April, 1996 the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation (BAHF) acquired Boeing C-97G Stratofreighter 52-2718 from the Grace Air Medical Foundation. Returning this marvelous aircraft back to flying condition was an immensely difficult and time-consuming endeavor, but they did indeed triumph on November 17, 2017 when C-97G Angel of Deliverance took to the skies again.
Since that time, the BAHF has gained valuable experience regarding this great unsung transport hero of the Berlin Airlift and Cold War era.

On December 5th, 2021, BAHF’s President, Tim Chopp, its Vice President Kevin Kearney, and Maintenance Coordinator, Matthew Chopp made their way back to Greybull, Wyoming to meet with B&G Industries President, Karl Bertagnole to continue discussions regarding the future of the organization’s C-97 program.
In order to maintain Angel of Deliverance as an airworthy airframe into the future, the BAHF needed to establish a significant spare parts cache from which to draw, a parts cache which B&G Industries had at their disposal.

As a result of their investigations, BAHF came to an agreement with B&G Industries on December 7th, 2021 which will allow them to acquire several of these long-dormant C-97s for essential spare parts."

Contribute to the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation, please click HERE!
 


Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Fairchild F-27F N127HP, c/n 33. I have a seperate page dedicated to F-27F N127HP
In Oct.2016 I read in an aviation enthusiasts magazine the following update: "N127HP Ex Philippi Equipment,
reg'd to Hagerstown Aviation Museum in Maryland and is expected to move there soon." (Scramble #449, Oct.2016).

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
H&P must have had great expectations for N127HP, to decorate it with the badge, etc.
 

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Tanker 97, which is the closest to airworthiness, overlooks the tired iron with a death sentence.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Boeing C-97G N1365N (c/n 16729) which I photographed for the first time in 1995 when operated by
Hawkins & Powers Aviation and based at Ft.Wainwright,AK. It seems it was operated by Hemet Valley Flying
Service (as T#84) before H&P acquired it. When flown with the original owner, the USAF, it carried serial 52-2698.
The Alaska environment was a good place for this lumbering giant to fight forest fires, I think 2003 may have been
the last year it was based on contract there. Reg'd 28Sep05 to Pride Capital Group LLC of Deerfield,IL.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Sold at auction 23Aug06 for $75.000,- to buyer Clay Lacy, with N972HP + N29862 included in the deal.
In Nov.2008 at Greybull seen being worked on inside hangar; it seems Mr Lacy wanted to bring it back to its
military configuration, so the tank was taken out. But a dispute developed about the bill and N1365N remains on hold.
HAVE YOU READ THE JANUARY 2022 NEWS UPDATE AT TOP OF PAGE?!!

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
The tank for aerial firefighting taken out, but a dispute about the bill has kept N1365N firmly on the ground here at Greybull.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Tanker 97 with the 'Aluminum Overcast' badge. This is some plane, don't you agree?!
Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
On a Facebook posting in Nov.2017 I noticed it had been towed on firmer ground, onto the ramp.

Here is some background -and ancedote- by Mel Frost on 'Tanker 97':
"IF tanker 97 was the 'only converted' B-377 / KC-97, then it started out being bought from Boeing by Charles ('Charlie') Rector and ended up parked on the ramp at Chino, CA for a number of years; playing the games with FS/DOI/CalFire et al trying to get certified for flying on fires within the lower 48 states.
I think it was still sitting there at Chino about 3 or 4 years later too. (Early 1960s -Webmaster)

The story goes that when Charlie flew the monster down from Boeing Field / SEA, he landed, parked and shut-down everything. The mayor was there, along with a lot of other big wigs. The door jammed and wouldn't fall/come down like it should (the crew door, lower forward area on port side). So, he and his co-pilot were banging away on it from the inside and the big wigs crowded up close like...
He kicked it a few times and it finally dropped like a ton of bricks, and that little flip-out step sliced thru the
air JUST MISSING the mayor's head!
Scared him shitless; he left, never said a word.

I first saw it up close there at Chino during the CHINO AIR FAIR, which Mike Dewey and some others promoted and performed in; this was in 1961 the best I can remember. I think it was configured with 2 ea 1,000 gal seq drop tanks, and 6 ea 1,000 gal added storage tanks, pumps to move the slurry from them to the drop tanks after each run, etc.
The flight deck was configured so the 'loadmaster/dropmaster' sat to the rear of the console between the pilot/2nd seat; the controlling switches were there, on that rear face of that big flat console.

I was told that this B377 had been the prototype for the civil use of the KC97 airframe by Boeing. Charlie had got it by way of a 'bid'; never explained fully to me.

While I now live in Whitehall,MT I consider myself a pilot from Santa Paula,CA (Ventura county, just north LAX). These day I spend my time on Ham radio, as KD7DCR.
I just finished my 50th year with AOPA; my number is 00261191 and I have had it since 1964, when I got my Privat Licence. Solo'ed 7 planes that day! One was a Howard DGA round engine beast; another one Staggerwing Beech D17. Santa Paula has always been a mecca for old aircraft lovers and home builts."

 
 

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Boeing KC-97G N29866 (c/n 16726), ex/ 52-2695. But fitted with the tail of 0-22680, Utah ANG.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
So it has the UT ANG tail, plus Arizona ANG in large lettering, but on the left one sees faded titling of Illinois!

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Those engines forever silent.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Boeing KC-97G N29862 (c/n 16792) was part of the Clay Lacy deal, when Mr Lacy bought N1365N.
In 2005 it was for sale through CourtesyAircraft.com for US$ 200.00,- Things turned out differently.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Storm clouds fast approaching, is there such a thing as rain in the desert?

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
If one wouldn't know any better, one would think "this one will fly!"

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
53-0208 (N397HP) has had its belly cut-out and fitted to Clay Lacy's C-97 N1365N (replacing the retardant tanks).
Sold to Harold Shepard in 2006, but paperwork submitted to FAA as late as 28Dec10. Mr Shepard is a scrapper, but
hasn't done much scrapping yet. Maybe having to do with the Harley Davidson deal gone sour. Mr Shepard (or Sheppard)
delivered scrapped aluminum molten down to ingots, but did not sufficiently enrich it and Harley Davidson cancelled it.
So what to do now with all that scrap metal and no buyer?

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
N397HP may rest here for quite a while yet. Then again, Mr Shepard is leasing this bit of land so he is incurring
costs to have these hulks parked here (Greybull Standard, Oct.2011).

The following may shed some light on Mr Shepard / Sheppard and his relation to Greybull's Big Horn County Airport:

Sheppard Trucking Owner Wants Salvage Yard At Airport
By Greybull Standard staff - Greybull Standard of Greybull, Wyoming -  PUBLICATION: OCTOBER 29, 2009

Harold Sheppard, a trucking company owner and pilot from Riverton, has scrapped airplanes at the South Big Horn County Airport for the past three years and now he wants to permanently lease space from the county for further scrap operations.
Sheppard admittedly has only managed to send six planes to the smelter in the course of those three years, with at least six more on hold.

B&G Industries Inc. co-owner Karl Bertagnole told the Big Horn County Airport board of trustees at a meeting Tuesday that he objects to Sheppard's request saying he's spent tens of thousands of dollars to clean the airport up over the past three years.
"I don't want it to be a scrap yard, it reflects poorly on the airport and the county," Bertagnole said. "He's right that some parts are being taken off the planes, but they are not going away."

Sheppard blames a downward turn in the value of scrap metal for the delay in chopping up and removing the planes.
For the past three years Sheppard has had a verbal agreement to lease a space measuring 100 ft. by 175 ft. from B&G to use for the "actual cut-up area."
"I'm not going to cut up planes on spot, I would have one specific area which would be maintained," he said.

Bertagnole estimates an additional four acres of land is necessary to store the six or seven planes Sheppard proposes to have on hand.
Sheppard said he owns a small Aztec aircraft that he flies to different locations to inspect nonfunctional aircraft before placing bids on the planes for salvage purposes. He would then bring the aircraft to the Greybull airport to remove fluids and electrical wires before cutting up and trucking to the smelter.

Sheppard said that the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality personnel visited the designated chopping area at the airport last week and were satisfied with operations "except for a few oil spots." Most of the used oil is recycled through the use of oil burning heaters.

Board member John Coyne asked if Sheppard planned to eventually construct a hangar at the airport. He said that yes, he would like to construct a hangar to store at least one large plane such as a C-130 that could be used to haul engines out, and his private Aztec.
"It would be nice to put a hangar up down the road but, I don't have the luxury of grant money in my hip pocket, I've got to make a buck."
The regulations in place at the SBHCA are stringent, and make the cost of a hangar going up very expensive, Sheppard added.

Sheppard also said that of the remaining planes he owns and has yet to scrap, three are nearly complete and would make a good addition to the Museum of Flight display.

So many visitors are drawn to this area because of the vintage aircraft, Sheppard said. "I have a complete P2 in the field I would be willing to set in the museum to further enhance the community and my own purposes," he said.
Sheppard also said he owns two 404 Martins, "one will be scrapped, the other is almost complete. There are only seven left in the continental United States."
Of the four DC3s Sheppard owns, "one is very complete, a very popular plane in World War II."
All three aircraft could be on loan to the museum, Sheppard said.
=

 

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Boeing KC-97L N97HP (c/n 16612, ex/ N8516T). Reported in 2000 as 'stored, but could be made flyable'.
It was reg'd as N97HB from N97HP on 20Oct2000, what was all that about?
Registered 28Sep05 to Pride Capital Group LLC of, Deerfield,IL. And reg'd 30Apr07 to Harold Shepard.

Randy Sullivan, chief pilot for H&P 1975-1988 (and part time pilot 1988-1992) wrote:
"As to 97HP, outside H&P and the FAA I doubt that 10 people knew that it was reconfigured to a B377!
Its ZFW, GTOW and GLW were reduced to meet performance requirements which severely reduced its cargo capacity.
N97HP was fitted with fuel dumps, auto feather and re-certificated as a B377; and placed on an FAR 125 certificate (I wrote the manuals).
I also wrote FAR 121 manuals: the plan was to put N97HP into cargo service. But the requirements for maintaining it to FAR 121 standards became cost prohibitive.
It is curious to me why Clay Lacy would want to mess with a tanked C-97 when N97HP is a cargo ready aircraft..?
I will say that it is doubtful he could find 4 servicable R4360's as T84 gobbled up most of them!"
(The above communicated throught WIX (Warbird Information Exchange, forum) on Facebook -Webmaster)

 

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
The airforce of Greybull

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Faded 0-20918 and Ohio Air National Guard lettering can still be seen.
Note that this former 52-0918 was a freighter, as one can deduct from the missing fuelboom & station.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Boeing KC-97L N497HP (c/n 17047, ex/ N1386M).
This is one that is also owned by Harold Shepard.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
N497HP roughly applied. Sold to Harold Shepard in 2006, but paperwork submitted to FAA as late as 28Dec2010.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
N497HP. I have a remark in my files: '53-0265 has the tail of 0-3023?'

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
N972HP seems in pretty good nick.
Like all H&P aircraft this one was offered on CourtesyArcraft.com too in Jan2005, for US$ 150.000
N972HP was part of the Clay Lacy deal (@auction 23Aug06), when Mr Lacy bought N1365N (and N29862).

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
And for the 2nd time 'N972HP' is fading, loosing the battle against time.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
That engine cowling suffered a serious beating.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
 

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Lockheed SP-2H Neptune N173AM (c/n 7129).
Other markings: 1P334 (AMARC identifier) and its BuNo.143173 (US) Navy. It was reported part of the museum
display on 16Sep02. There is a photo at the bottom of my Greybull 1994 page, look for updates by Mark Saxon (2009) and
Upon the demise of H&P it was for sale in Jan.2005 by CourtesyAircraft.com for 75.000.
Reg'd 29Sep05 for Pride Capital Group of Deerfield,IL. Reported 29Jul06 still in museum compound at Greybull.
Sold at the August 2006 auction, reg'd 17Nov06 to Mommsen Enterprises of Sheridan,WY.
Then on 03Sep08 registered to one Richard C. Camp of Burke,VA as N173AM. What was the dream?

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
During a 16Nov2008 visit it went unnoticed, it may have been hiding in the hangar? But here we can confirm its presence.
On ww.warbirdregistry.org/neptuneregistry/neptune-143173 I found 'Displayed at Museum of Flight and Aerial Firefighting, Greybull, WY, 1998-2006.' Moved back to the yard for restoration? For in the summer of 2017 Brian Duxbury found it
back at the museum: Photos by Friends & Guests #51 - more complete than I saw it here (the glass nose).

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Ex/BuNo. 143173 US Navy. For explanation of that scribbled 41-6868 41-6363 #61 on there, I can offer:
"..this is the DRMS (Defense Reutilzation and Marketing Service) sale number 41-6868 and 143173 would have been
item number 61 in that sale. I have plenty of old DRMS sales catalogues, but sadly not for sale number
41-6868. But I believe that sale was held at Davis Monthan in 1987."
Nb- when I compiled this page I read 41-6868, but Brian Duxbury corrected me in 2017: closer examination shows 41-6363!

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Ex/ BuNo. 143173 US Navy

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Lockheed P-2H N2216S (c/n 7231). Ex US Navy BuNo. 148346.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
N2216S was bought by Neptune Aviation Services of Missoula,MT and registered on 08Jan07.
But with Neptune now converting to jets I doubt whether N2216S will be of much further use to them.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
I a considerable state of disrepair: Lockheed P-2H N128HP (c/n 7074, ex/ BuNo.140972, AMARC 1P307)
I photographed it in August 1994 as N2215G, but it was reregistered as N128HP on 22May97 (still for HP).
And it was also bought by Neptune Aviation Services of Missoula,MT (on 08Jan07). Maybe they took the best bits.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Hard to decipher: N2218Q (P-2H c/n 7255), ex BuNo 148359.
Yet another one that was bought by Neptune Aviation Services of Missoula,MT (08Jan07).

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
The markings on P-2H, BuNo. 148359, are more readable this side.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Lockheed SP-2H N2218E (Ex/ 7246, BuNo. 148356) Neptune Aviation Services (Reg'd 08Jan07).

1
Lockheed SP-2H N2218E

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Strange lettering used for that tailnumber N2218E.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Lockheed Neptunes BuNos. 148356 and 146359 fly the Wyoming desert in frozen formation.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
It seems that Neptune Aviation Services bought the whole lot in 2007, including P-2H N122HP (c/n 7226 BuNo.148341)

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
This was one that was not reported upon a Nov.2008 visit, but perhaps some of them in hangar getting 'undressed'
by Neptune Aviation Services, for parts. Weather can be fierce here in winter, we were lucky with all that sun.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Lockheed SP-2H N2218A (c/n 7243, ex BuNo.148355). The exception to the rule: Neptune does not own this one.
Last registered owner is, as reg'd 28Sep05, the Pride Capital Group of Deerfield,IL.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Note the dangling radar disc on Lockheed SP-2H BuNo.148355 (AMARC 1P412)

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
It is indeed a breathtaking place!

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Lockheed P-2H N8056D (c/n 7057, ex/ BuNo.140154).

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Close up of the Westinghouse J34 jetpod. No doubt it must have been of help to take off heavy from hot air fields,
but those jets also increased fuel burn and the extra fuel required increased take off weight.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
After its sale at the 2006 auction, N8056D was reg'd on 06Sep07 to Harold Sheppard Jr of Riverton,WY.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Another one of the Harold Shepard collection: SP-2H Neptune N125HP (c/n 7035, ex BuNo. 135588)
The weather was beginning to look ominous, but I escaped without a drop of rain.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
Barely readable N125HP, at one time N4846N.

Greybull stored propliners and aircraft salvage yard
BuNo.135588 was bought by Hans van der Meer (late 1990s?), to bring it over to the Netherlands, but the deal fell thru.

This visit and my two hours here in the desert among these hulks was among the highlights of my trip! A unique place.
Allen Beckhoff, thanks for your help!Thanks!

 

 

A little bit of history I came across (sep.2015), on the pre-H&P days of Greybull,WY

"(Greybull, WY.) — Morris Avery, one of Wyoming’s first helicopter pilots and a pioneer in aerial spraying, firefighting, search and rescue and mountain flying, is the 2015 inductee into the Wyoming Aviation Hall of Fame.
A ceremony to honor his accomplishments and induction is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sept. 18 at the Greybull Airport. "

"In 1949 they formed Christler and Avery Aviation in Greybull, purchasing a surplus Douglas B-18 bomber and converting it into an agricultural sprayer. It also was retrofitted to haul ore from a uranium mine in the Big Horn Mountains."

"Late in 1958, the company purchased four World War II-era Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateers from the U.S. Coast Guard. A variant of the B-24 Liberator, the large four-engine bombers were retrofitted for aerial firefighting, making Christler and Avery Aviation among the early companies to contract with the U.S. Forest Service to use large aircraft to fight forest fires."

"Avery purchased Christler’s share of the company in 1960 and changed the name to Avery Aviation. Aerial firefighting continued to be a major part of the company’s business.
In 1961, Avery ventured into commercial aviation, founding Sage Airlines to provide passenger service to Casper from numerous northern Wyoming towns.
He died in 1965 due to complications following leg surgery. At the time of his death, Avery Aviation was considered to be the largest private flying service in the nation, with a fleet of historic aircraft dating back to the 1930s."

"His wife, Reba, continued to operate the company with the assistance of employees Gene Powers and Dan Hawkins. She sold the company to them in 1969, and it continued to operate for decades as Hawkins & Powers."

http://dallyup.co/2015/09/15/avery-named-to-wyoming-aviation-hall-of-fame-ceremony-set-in-greybull/

 
 

 

Links to browse my website on Greybull aeroplanes and the mysteries involved:
My visit in 1994
My log report on the tailnumbers then and where they went
A 1983 report with images by Fred de Ruiter
Ralph Pettersen visit in 2003
David Ellis sent a 2004 report

EXTERNAL LINKS
Neil Aird's 'Walkabout 25Apr98'
Airliners.net
Big Horn County Airport
Ralph Pettersen revisit 2021 his article on Proplinerinfoexchange.com
Throwing the net wider on the historic perspective: www.airfields-freeman.com/WY/Airfields_WY.htm

 

 

OTHER PAGES OF MY NORTHWEST USA 2014 TRIP:
PAGE 1 - WASHINGTON STATE
KENMORE AIR HARBORE, SEATTLE
HISTORIC FLIGHT FOUNDATION AT PAINE FIELD
MISSOULA'S MUSEUM OF MOUNTAIN FLYING
US 2014 PAGE 2 - IDAHO MONTANA WYOMING OREGON
WARHAWK MUSEUM, NAMPA,ID
ERICKSON COLLECTION, MADRAS,OR

 

 

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