Tag Archives: Medford

Perfect Skycrane Timing

One of the last legs of the trip Mark and I took was to Medford for an overnight before heading home. Medford is also home to Erickson Aircrane’s operations and I had intended to swing by to see if there was anything to see there. As we drove towards the airport, an S-64 was flying downwind. It wasn’t apparent whether it was heading away or arriving. However, I knew the route to their parking lot so we made a rapid move there just as the helo turned on to approach.

It made a stately descent and then taxied in. We were able to shoot through the fence as it did so without any problem – if you ignore the fact that the temperature was 103F and getting out of an air conditioned car was quite a shock. They taxied in and shut down and we rapidly retreated to the cool of the car. We really couldn’t have timed the arrival any better!

This Needs a Few More Bits

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Erickson’s facility at Medford was the home for this Skycrane while I was there. A team were working on it and, I imagine, they were getting it ready for the coming fire season. At this point, though, it was still in need of a few parts. It looked a bit lacking but I suspect the process of adding the remaining elements to get it back into an airworthy condition was not going to take that long. Hopefully by now she is back in the air and working hard.

Erickson Super Puma

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Erickson is a company that you certainly associate with helicopters but normally you would think about the Skycrane. They also use airframes from other manufacturers. This Super Puma was sitting on their ramp at Medford. I’m not sure whether it is used for heavy lift work, firefighting or a bit of both. It was not what I expected to see though!

Preserved KC-97

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A strange airfield means time for a trip around the perimeter to see what is around. Medford didn’t disappoint. A small museum included a nicely preserved Boeing KC-97 tanker aircraft. Sadly, everything was closed up so I couldn’t take a closer look. Meanwhile, the fencing around it was pretty close in so it was a bit of struggle to get a clean shot but there will still some options. The boom was no longer fitted but, otherwise, it looked just like you would hope.

Q400 Go Cougs

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Medford is not a busy airport for commercial traffic but it does have some regular services. Horizon seemed to be the most common operator (should I call them Alaska now?). Their Q400s were coming and going quite often. Horizon has been painting their aircraft in a large variety of schemes, many of which are associated with colleges around the region. (My friend David who works for them recently shared with me just how many there are so I might start trying to get them all.)

One of the planes is painted to represent Washington State University at Pullman WA. I have seen this one before a few times but this time it was taking off while I was driving around the airport to see what was there. It quickly climbed away past me but I got a better look at it than I had previously done.

BBJ at Medford

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Directly opposite our hotel during our overnight stop in Medford Oregon was a Boeing BBJ. There was no way I wasn’t going to try and get a shot of it despite the fence. The initial shots were when we first arrived because I didn’t know what the timing of the rest of the day would be. However, after dinner, the light was getting so much better so I wandered back out to have another go. No idea whether it is based there or whether someone was just visiting. We left before it moved.

F-16 on a Pole

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Our overnight stop at Medford in Oregon was close to the airport. I took a stroll towards the terminal which had an F-16 mounted on a pole outside. This was an F-16A model. I assume it had been there for quite a while. There was a time a while back when units would detail bits of their jets with chrome. A-10 guns would be chromed and F-16s would have the port around their guns chromed up too. This jet had obviously had the treatment. The odd thing was that, over the years the paint had become heavily faded. However, the gun port looked exactly like new. These pictures won’t really emphasize this since they were taken wide to get the whole jet in but you might just be able to make out the gun port.

Greyhounds Used to Park – Now it is a Park

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An overnight stop on our drive from California to Washington was Medford in Oregon. There were a few aviation areas of interest in Medford and they will appear in the blog in due course. (That may have influenced my thoughts on overnighting there but, to be honest, it was the best place for us to stop.). We went into the town to get some dinner and, as we walked back to the car, we passed a small park. This park used to be a bus station for Greyhound services. A small plaque showed some shots of how it once looked. An archway into the building had been preserved and now was free standing courtesy of a reinforcement frame. The color and style of the arch were clearly of their time but it looked rather cool in the evening light.