__NOTOC__ Frakes Aviation was founded by J. Fred Frakes in the late 1960s, and is located in

Cleburne, Texas Cleburne is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 29,337. The city is named in honor of Patrick Cleburne, a Confederate general. Lake Pat Cleburne, the reservoir that pro ...

, United States. When founded, the company's main activity was converting

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...

powered airplanes to

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...

engines. The company continued operations in this area of aviation into the mid-1980s, converting various airplanes. Frakes' most significant projects were the re-engineering of two

Grumman The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 ...

products, the Ag-Cat and the

Mallard The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Arge ...

, in both cases replacing the original radial piston engines with the

Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A The Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6 is a turboprop aircraft engine produced by Pratt & Whitney Canada. Its design was started in 1958, it first ran in February 1960, first flew on 30 May 1961, entered service in 1964 and has been continuously upda ...

. The company also converted a number of Aerospatiale Nord 262 airplanes for

Mohawk Airlines Mohawk Airlines was a regional passenger airline operating in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, mainly in New York and Pennsylvania, from the mid-1940s until its acquisition by Allegheny Airlines in 1972. At its height, it employe ...

(later used by

Ransome Airlines Ransome Airlines was a regional airline from the United States, headquartered at Northeast Philadelphia Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1967, it operated feeder flights on behalf of different mainline carriers via specific air ...

, an Allegheny Commuter subsidiary airline) in the late 1970s. After long usage by Ransome Airlines at least two of these airplanes were exported to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

where they were used for a short time before being retired. In the mid-1980s Frakes Aviation saw a need to diversify their business and ventured into aftermarket

exhaust system An exhaust system is used to guide reaction exhaust gases away from a controlled combustion inside an engine or stove. The entire system conveys burnt gases from the engine and includes one or more exhaust pipes. Depending on the overall system ...

s for PT6 powered aircraft. As the modification business dwindled the exhaust business began to take hold. Frakes Aviation now holds various supplemental type certificates for exhaust systems on several different

airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aerospa ...

s. Further diversifying of their business brought them into the

OEM An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

market. Frakes Aviation is now the OEM for exhaust stacks on various newly built aircraft, including the

Quest Kodiak The Daher Kodiak (formerly Quest Kodiak) is an American utility aircraft designed by and originally manufactured by Quest Aircraft. Manufacturing was taken over by Daher in 2019 after its purchase of Quest Aircraft. The high-wing, unpressuri ...

and the Epic Dynasty.

References

External links

Company website

Mallard Aircraft
G-73 certificate holder Aircraft manufacturers of the United States Manufacturing companies based in Texas {{aero-corp-stub