"Christine" visiting at the Gawler airfield re-opening ceremony

In heavy lift configuration with auxillary fuel tanks, Erickson's Skycranes were frequently used for heli-logging in Canada.

'Elvis' and N217AC 'Malcolm' rest at Essendon after a pretty busy few weeks fighting major bushfires. Note the engineer standing on Malcolm to give scale to these huge helicopters.

'Elvis', aka 'Helitak 739' and the other Skycranes have been in the thick of things fighting the worst bushfires in Victoria's history - over 200 people perished in 24 hours of fire-storms. Nevertheless, here's Elvis back at its Essendon base having a day of respite from the constant water-bombing although the fires are still burning up in the hills, hence the smoky, grey sky.

'Elsie' is doing her first summer in Australia on bushfire-fighting duties as 'Helitack 749'. Fortunately it's been a quiet summer for fires so far...

'Malcolm' undergoing some maintenance at Essendon. You can see just how big this chopper is from the engineer squatting by the trunk.

'Elvis', aka 'Helitak 739', has had a quiet summer this year, unlike last year.

'Elvis' has become popular with the Victorian public and is now a regular visitor each summer on bushfire-fighting duties. In the background, one of the Air Ambulance Super King Airs waits at the holding point while a Cessna lands on Runway 17.

Nice catch on this airfield between Genoa and San Remo.