US AERIAL AGRICULTURE - 1970s

A selection of my photographs of aircraft used for aerial agriculture in USA in the late 1970s

Boeing Stearmans had never been certified for aerial agricultural work in Australia, so I was pleased to find so many of these wartime
biplanes earning their keep, most re-engined with more powerful radial engines. This pair were at Salinas, California in September 1977

N67344 at Salinas the same day. Atwood Dusters was a long-established company operating in central California

On the side of the highway near Merced, California was Hawke Field on the Flying M Ranch, with a selection of Stearmans
Another Hawke Dusters Stearman at Hawke Field was N56416 fitted with am under-belly seeder

Stearman N56833 sprayer at Madera, California with a modified extended tail wheel assembly


Hard-worked Stearmans and Navy N3N cropdusters and sprayers at Madera.  All the above photos were taken on the same day.

Weatherly 201A N2932W at Los Banos, California September 1977 was a type not seen in Australia at that time

Grumman TBM-3 Avenger N9927Z was fire tanker #39, but was rigged for insecticide spraying at Mesa, Arizona in October 1979

A number of Beech 18 models, particularly AT-11s with bomb-bays, were used for aerial spraying in USA.
N9306Z was a USAF disposals C-45G, retired at Greybull, Wyoming in September 1979, with faded "Sage Air Lines"titles

Retired executive Lockheed PV-1 Venturas found new roles as agricultural dusters. N159U was fitted with a hopper in the cabin
and loading hatch in the roof and dropping chute through the bombay doors in 1968 for Clarks Aerial Service at Brownfield, Texas.
Lonnie Clark used Stearmans, 7 Venturas and 4 Harpoons for crop dusting, plus 3 Curtiss C-46s for seed spreading.
Ventura N159U was with an aircraft dealer at Fort Lauderdale, Florida in October 1979

Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon N6855C was part of a large fleet of PV-2 sprayers with Aircraft Specialties Inc based at Mesa, Arizona


Moving into the heavy agricultural category in the 1970s were retired airline Martin 404s.
N470M was being hosed down at Madera, California in September 1977 after spraying orchards against fruit-fly

Military disposals Douglas C-54s were ideal heavy sprayers. Biegert Aviation had twelve for large-scale spraying contracts,
including spraying detergents on ocean oil pollution.  Their former US Navy R5D-3 N44904 was at Mesa, Arizona in October 1979

Aircraft Specialties Inc at Mesa also had C-54s to replace their older sprayer types. Their C-54D N67024 was at Mesa in October 1979

Aircraft Specialties Inc had fitted their Boeing B-17G N9563Z fire tanker #89 as a sprayer when seen at Mesa AZ in October 1979

Aircraft Specialties Inc used Lockheed Constellations for large-scale spraying, often working in formations for maximum coverage.
Their Constellations had annual deployments to Canada to spray forests against budworm.
N611AS at Mesa in October 1979 was a USAF disposals VC-121B
 

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