High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The U.S. Forest Service airtanker scandal involved a scheme, called the Historical Aircraft Exchange Program, in which the agency would acquire retired U.S. Air Force C-130A transport aircraft and U.S. Navy P-3 anti-submarine patrol aircraft, ostensibly for use as firefighting airtankers, but which ended up with the planes` ownership being transferred illegally to private companies and the aircraft themselves being used for other purposes or even sold for a profit. The controversy resulted in two of the involved principals being sentenced to prison and a number of civil lawsuits.