On July 19, 1997, at 2045 central daylight time, a Cessna 182, N5820B, sustained substantial damage, during a forced landing in a field adjacent to the Wissota Airport near Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. The pilot stated that he had just conducted a parachute jump flight and was returning the airport when the airplane suffered a sustained total loss of engine power. The pilot reported no injuries. The personal 14 CFR Part 91 flight was operating in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan was on file for the local flight. The local flight departed at 2015. The pilot said that he had noticed a temporary loss of engine power on a previous flight; however, that the airplane had been serviced and he had not had any indication of a power loss on the day of the accident until the final event. He said that the airplane contained a total fuel load of 25 gallons prior to the flight which lasted about 30 minutes. He indicated that on final approach the airplane suffered a sustained loss of engine power and he elected to conduct a forced landing in a crop field adjacent to the airport because he felt he could not make a landing on the runway. An inspection of the accident airplane was conducted on July 20, 1997. When the airplane was in a level condition, no fuel was found remaining in the tanks at the fuel sumps. There was some fuel found in the carburetor, fuel lines and gascolator. Thumb compression was found on all the cylinders. Spark was found on each spark plug. There was no restriction found in the fuel vent system. Carburetor controls were found to have proper operation except for the carburetor heat which received impact damage. Disassembly of the carburetor revealed that the float level was correct. The "Owner's Manual" for the accident airplane indicated fuel quantity data in gallons for each tank: 27.5 gallons usable fuel all flight conditions; 1.5 gallons additional usable fuel for level flight; 1.0 gallons unusable fuel; for a total fuel volume of 30 gallons (each tank). An appropriate page from the manual is attached to this report.