By: Craig Stebbins
July 31, 2018
For anyone interested, reference the article last March in the Ranger Review; we were informed this morning that Neptune Aviation, Missoula, intends to fly Tanker 05, a Lockheed P-2 Neptune, (recently retired aerial firefighter), to Glendive on Sunday afternoon, August 5th. The exact time of its afternoon arrival at the Dawson Community Airport is uncertain at the moment.
Tanker 05, and the six other retired P-2 airtankers are currently parked at Neptune’s Alamogordo NM facility, patiently awaiting their final flights to airports/museums across the country. Evidently Glendive has been selected first in the delivery lineup. Pre-oil and final engine run-ups are slated for Thursday and if all goes well, it will roar out of Alamogordo sometime Sunday morning. Assuming there are no mechanical problems enroute to Glendive, and Mother Nature cooperates, we should see the airplane sometime Sunday afternoon. As soon as they give an estimated time of departure—hopefully later this week—I will send a quick message.
Upon Tanker 05‘s arrival at the Dawson Community Airport, it will never fly again. For anyone interested in watching it make its final, grand, entrance, I would encourage you to come to the airport on Sunday, as Glendive will be its permanent home.
This particular airplane has saved countless structures, and in some cases, several lives, in its decades’ long career battling wildland fires across the United States. I, for one, consider it a great honor that we will have such a grand airplane sitting proudly; in our own backyard no less.
