Please feel free to elaborate on the story, mom !!!
I think we visited about this long ago in here, but it was on a fire.. we got to go out on a PERFECT, cool, smooth morning, to a little fire way up in the mountains... it was one of those dispatches that makes you remember why you love this job!
A stray patrol plane from the adjacent forest, who, as it turns out, was TOLD where we were, and should never have come to our fire, cruised into our area right when we had set up on final for the drop. (I was flying leadplane and the DC-4 was right on my butt... close!)
We were almost up on the drop site and Steve suddenly screamed "TURN! NOW!" and I was so shocked, and so startled, I just snapped it to the left and then when we came around, he told me this plane was coming at me from about 5 o'clock, and was maybe 20 feet away from my tail when he yelled at me. I never did see the guy -- he took off like a shot, so he must have seen the tanker, anyway.
Needless to say, if he hadn't yelled, I wouldn't be around.... PLUS, he even tried to kill the guy later, at the airport... a lovely gesture, I thought.