The History of Air Tractor
AN INTERACTIVE TIMELINE
Leland Snow’s ag-flying career began in 1951, while an aeronautical engineering student at Texas A&M University.
“I obtained a commercial license in April of ’51 and embarked on an ag-flying career the following month. I flew a J-3 Cub sprayer on weekends and then full-time when school ended in May. I very quickly became aware of the fact that an airplane designed specifically for agricultural work was badly needed. I began laying lines in my spare time for the design of my first airplane, the Snow S-1. This, as it turned out, would be the forerunner of the S-2/Thrush series of ag-planes in years to come.”
In January of 1958, Leland Snow moved his fledgling aircraft company from Harlingen to Olney, Texas following an invitation from the Olney Chamber of Commerce Industrial Foundation. His unfinished S-2 airplanes were hauled to Olney in cattle trailers and stored in hangars at the Olney airfield.
On November 15, 1965, Snow Aeronautical Company was bought by Rockwell Standard. This marked the end of Snow Aeronautical and the beginning of a new era where we were a part of Rockwell Standard known as the Olney Division of Aero Commander.
The first Air Tractor AT-300 was delivered in April 1974, with a 300-gallon hopper and powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-895 engine with 450 hp. Serial number 0002 took on the traditional Air Tractor yellow and blue paint scheme. Leland Snow test flew that airplane on his birthday, May 31, 1974.
In December 1974, the AT-301 was equipped with the 600 hp. Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engine. In production until 1988, 587 aircraft in the 300 series were built and sold.
The aircraft pictured here were owned by Grouleff Aviation, San Joaquin, California.
Leland Snow flew the first PT6 powered Air Tractor to the 1979 NAAA convention in Las Vegas and certification of the AT-400 began shortly afterward. These three were the first Air Tractors to make a trans-Atlantic ferry flight in 1980. The route took them over Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, and to their ultimate destination in Egypt where they worked spraying cotton.
Air Tractor’s last piston-powered airplane, the AT-401, was developed in mid-1987 with a 400-gallon hopper and longer wingspan than its predecessor, the AT-300.
In July 1994 the AT-401B was FAA approved. The Hoerner wingtips added two feet to the wingspan.
In April 1987 the AT-502 was test flown. Produced from the same airframe as the R-1340-powered AT-501, this 500-gallon turboprop airplane has become Air Tractor’s best-seller.
N4507U was owned by David Gover of Tillar, AR.
In 1995, the AT-602 took its first test flight. It was designed with the capability to spray a 125-acre circular field with a 5 gallon per acre application rate.
The AT-602 was certificated in June 1996, with the first delivery that same month.
In 1993 Air Tractor and Wipaire worked together to produce the amphibious scooper water bomber now known as the Fire Boss. Equipped with special Wipaire 10000 scooping floats, the single-engine air tanker quickly became a versatile firefighting aircraft for rapid initial attack and sustained attack of wildfires.
The first of these airplanes went to Canada-based Conair Group and to Avialsa in Valencia Spain.
In 2009, Air Tractor modified its AT-802 variant used for narcotic crop eradication with additional features in a bid to provide aircraft for military missions.
When Disney Studios contacted Air Tractor looking for a fully flight-capable replica of Dusty Crophopper, Air Tractor teamed with Texas aerial applicator Rusty Lindeman to convert his AT-301 into a turboprop AT-400A. On August 3, 2021, Rusty and Lea Lindeman presented their Dusty Crophopper airplane to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
Air Tractor’s 502XP is a modification of the AT-502A, with a taller tail, 108-inch 4-blade prop, and PT6A-140AG to produce 867 shaft horsepower. The airplane made its first public appearance at the 2015 NAAA Convention. On April 14, Terry Mundell, of Mundell Enterprises, with Air Tractor dealer Robert and Larry Neal, took delivery of the very first production 502XP.
Since the very first delivery, the Air Tractor 502XP has been in high demand by aerial applicators wanting more power and productivity in high/hot conditions. Pilots liked the airplane’s light controls and reduced sound signature.
In early 2021, Air Tractor delivered the 100th 502XP to Travis Karle, owner of Accumark Airspray in Nipawin, Saskatchewan.
Australian Air Tractor operator Neville Dunn of Dunn Aviation took delivery of AT-802A-0900, the 900th in the 802 ag and firefighting series. The airplane takes its place beside eleven other Air Tractor AT-802 series aircraft, an AT-504, AT-502B, and an AT-401 at Dunn’s base of operations.
The AT-802A-0900 ferry pilot left the Air Tractor headquarters in Olney, Texas, on June 9 to fly the airplane across the Pacific Ocean to Australia. The airplane arrived at Dunn Aviation in mid-June.