This Privateer is a composite of several sections from different aircraft put together by Hawkins & Powers at their Greybull, WY base before ferrying to Pensacola in 1983, adopting the identity of 66304/N2870G. However several authoritative sources point to the majority coming from 33261/N7682C, incorporating major parts from 66304, 59882 and 66313. What is clear, however, is that it has suffered extensive hurricane damage

Ex US Navy 90026. Operated out of Dorval, Quebec, by 231 Sqn on transatlantic services. Returned to the USN in April 1946. Photo from: Imperial War Museums

Delivered to the US Navy as PB4Y-2 59819 in 1945. Sold as N3739G in 1960 and converted to a fire bomber then converted to a Super Privateer in 1968. Operated by T&G Aviation from 1977. To the Lone Star Flight Museum, Galveston TX in 1991 and restored to military configuration. Badly damaged by Hurricane Ike in 2008. Moved to the Pima Air and Space Museum, AZ in 2015 and restored in US Navy colours as 59819.

Operated by SS & T Aerial Contractors. Crashed near Safford in Arizona on 27 June 1974. Photo by Steve Kraus.

By 1945 several squadrons of Privateers were conducting operations from the Philippines to the Aleutian Islands. The PB4Y-2 with its distinctive single tail was much better equipped than the earlier PB4Y-1, which was basically just an adapted B-24, and stayed in Navy service after the war for missions such as weather reconnaissance and signals intelligence, before being retired around 1955. Several were then modified as civilian air tankers used in fighting forest fires until 2002. This one was tanker 'C30', registered N3739G, now restored in the colours of VPB-120, Shemya Island, AK in 1945

code "124" only displayed on the left side of the aircraft. Hopefully this unique aircraft will be restored in the future.

Delivered to the US Navy as 66313 in 1945. Sold as N3431G in 1959 and used for parts at Greybull, WY. Restored by Hawkins and Powers in 1981/83 using parts from 66304/N2870G which had crashed at Ramona, CA in 1980. After restoration the aircraft adopted the identity of BuNo 66304 and its civil registration N2870G for a ferry flight to Pensacola in 1983.

On active duty for the Alaska summer wildfire season, at rest at Ladd Army Airfield, Fort Wainwright, Fairbanks as Hawkins & Powers contract fire tanker "126". Built in 1944 for the US Navy as PB4Y-2 Privateer patrol bomber BuNo 59882. Transferred to the US Coast Guard around 1951 as a P4Y-2G. Became N7962C in 1959. Re-engined and further modified and upgraded to the more powerful Super Privateer air tanker configuration around 1974. Grounded for fire-fighting in July 2002 as a result of the structural failure of sister ship N7620C during an air attack.

Ex Bu59905. To Wenairco in 1963. Crashed and burnt out at KEAT/EAT operating with Hawkins and Powers on 27 July 1972. Nose section noted on a trailer at Chandler Memorial in January 2008.

Operated by Hawkins & Powers Aviation of Greybull, Wyoming, on contract to the State of Alaska for the summer 1990 fire fighting season. Carrying the bombing number "124" and flying the US national flag within its glazed nose.

This is a VPB-122 squadron aircraft. Photo by Logan Coombs.

The only currently airworthy Privateer, now resplendent in full Coast Guard markings and based at Casa Grande in the care of GossHawk Unlimited.

Consolidated P4Y-2G at the Coast Guard Air Station San Francisco. It was transferred from Navy (ex BuNo 66260) to Coast Guard in October 1952, and struck off USCG charge on 6 August 1956 (total time 2861). Sold in July 1958 and converted to airtanker as N7620C with Big Piney Aviation Co. (Rey, UT). Acquired by Hawkins & Powers (Greybull, WY) in 1969. Crashed about 12 km southeast of Estes Park, CO near US Highway 36 Mile 8 on 18 July 2002 while fire-fighting (total time 8346).

Built for the US Navy in 1944 as Bu 59882 and later served with the USCG. Registered as NR7962C in 1959 to Avery Aviation (later Christler-Avery Aviation) at Greybull, Wyoming and re-registered as N7962C later the same year. Hawkins and Powers acquired the aircraft when they took over the assets of Christler-Avery in 1969. She continued to operate for them until retired in 2002 and is now part of the Museum of Aerial Firefighting at Greybull. Seen at Fort Wainwright on station for the 1986 seasonal fire fighting contract with the Alaskan Bureau of Land Management.

The aircraft was in the process of being repainted by museum volunteers at the time of the photograph.

K25 slide scan. Built 1945 as 66302 for USN. Hawkins & Powers Tanker 121. After retirement the aircraft went into preservation and was airworthy until at least 2017. Having arrived at seasons end on a mostly overcast afternoon a last glimpse of sunlight illuminated the Privateer.

K25 slide scan. Built 1945 as 66302 for USN. Hawkins & Powers Tanker 121. After retirement the aircraft went into preservation and was airworthy until at least 2017. Since almost all aircraft on the field were static a taxi shot was a rare event.

K25 slide scan. Built 1945 as 66260 for USN. Hawkins & Powers Tanker 123. Crashed 18 July 2002 while firefighting near Lyons, CO after left wing separated due to fatigue. Retains standard nose.