Ex US Navy 86020.

Basler conversion #7.

Two Neptunes stored in Neptune Aviation Services' boneyard at their Missoula home base. The one in front is N949RR, which still has a "Patron 69" badge below the cockpit. The one hiding behind the bushes is N63819 (ex BuNo 147965).

Three of four Neptunes stored in Neptune Aviation Services' boneyard at their Missoula home base. The closest one is N63819 (ex BuNo 147965), which has all its US Navy markings painted out. Behind it on the left is N714AU (ex BuNo 148339), still coded LZ-14, and on the right is N949RR (ex BuNo 147949), coded PJ-3. The wingtip on the far right belongs to Fokker F-27 N222DG. The tailfin of the fourth Neptune N362RR (ex BuNo 148362) can also be seen.

Tail sections of two Neptunes stored in Neptune Aviation Services' boneyard at their Missoula home base. The one behind is N63819 (ex BuNo 147965).

One of four Neptunes stored in Neptune Aviation Services' boneyard, 700m east of their Missoula hangar. Like most Neptunes there this one still carries its US Navy markings, with some bits painted out. Below the cockpit it has faint silvery "University of Nevada - Reno" and "Fire Science Academy" titles and logo. This aircraft was the only one in the boneyard that could reasonably be photographed. The Neptune behind is N714AU (ex BuNo 148339), which still carries code LZ-14.

Parked very close together, so this ex NSF Electra is hiding behind the wing of a former NASA Electra. Both aircraft were stored at Neptune Aviation Services' airtanker base and both were sold to Air Spray later in the year. This N308D became C-FLXT.

It may be hard to believe, but this Neptune is not a spares ship. It is undergoing restoration to flight, after many years of storage and neglect. It made its first post-restoration flight on 6 Dec 2007 and became Tanker 42 (N442NA) a week later. Unfortunately its career would not be long - a bit more than a year later, on 25 Apr 2009, it crashed into high ground in the Oquirrh Mountains near Stockton Pass, UT, during a positioning flight from Missoula, MT to Alamogordo, NM. In this photo it still carries its former US Navy markings, with faded MASDC inventory number PA011 still on the nose.