Air Tractor Inc. is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

aircraft manufacturer based in

Olney, Texas Olney is a city in Young County, Texas, United States. Its population was 3,007 in 2020. History On May 18, 1951, the city was devastated by a violent F4 tornado. Thomas P. Grazulis noted this tornado was possible F5 on the Fujita scale. Geograph ...

. Founded in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

, the company began manufacturing a new

agricultural aircraft An agricultural aircraft is an aircraft that has been built or converted for agricultural use – usually aerial application of pesticides (crop dusting) or fertilizer (aerial topdressing); in these roles they are referred to as "crop duster ...

derived from the S-2B aircraft (designed by founder Leland Snow's previous company,

Snow Aeronautical Snow Aeronautical was an American aircraft manufacturer established in 1956 in Olney, Texas by Leland Snow to manufacture and market agricultural aircraft of his design. History Leland Snow, a graduate of the aeronautical engineering program a ...

). Designated Model AT-300 Air Tractor, the new aircraft first flew in 1973.

History

Leland Snow began designing his first airplane, the S-1, in 1951. The 23-year-old Snow completed test flights with the S-1 in 1953. Snow's S-1 flew dusting and spraying jobs in the Texas Rio Grande Valley and in

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

until 1957. He followed-up the S-1 with the models S-2A and S-2B, which were built when Snow moved to production facilities in Olney, Texas in 1958. In 1965, Leland Snow sold his company to

Rockwell-Standard Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avionics and industrial products. R ...

and was appointed a Vice President of the Aero Commander division. During this time, the Model S-2R was developed and named the Thrush. The first 100 Thrush aircraft were built at the Olney Division before the plant was closed and Thrush production moved to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

in 1970. More than 500 aircraft were produced under Snow Aeronautical Corporation and Rockwell-Standard in Olney. Snow resigned from Rockwell and devoted the next two years designing the Air Tractor. Construction on the AT-300, which later became the AT-301, began in 1972. Air Tractor's first turbine model, the AT-302, was introduced in 1977. Sixteen years later, Air Tractor delivered its 1,100th airplane and soon began expanding the Olney plant for increased capacity. Today, Air Tractor produces a line of aircraft that includes capacity planes powered by

Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies. Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially airlines) and military aviat ...

piston or turbine engines.

Aircraft

References

External links

Air Tractor (Official website)

Air Tractor Europe (Official website)
{{Air Tractor aircraft Aircraft manufacturers of the United States Companies based in Texas 1978 establishments in Texas American companies established in 1978 Manufacturing companies established in 1978

History

Aircraft

See also

References

Further reading

External links