Newer Bi-Planes? (Crop Dusters)

[Ox]

Had a fella dustin' in in adjacent sections the last cpl days and I kood'a swore that was a bi-plane, but haven't heard of one since before the war eh?

Shore'nuff, he came up rat behind the shop today and thar she was - in all her glory - a newer bi-plane. Not painted red and not part of the Loughawaffa (I am shur I butchered that werd?) that I kan tell.

Would Shirely seem to be a good application as I would like to think that a bi-plane could fly at slower speeds and still have the capacity to carry the load eh?

I have a pic - but I had to find a new roll of film in the truck, so I won't be posting it eny time soon. LOL!

Not sure if the old fella retired or they have some other fella dooin it from another area, but he seems to be a LOT greener than the guy we usta use. The old guy would git half aggin to twiced as much done in the same amount of time! ??? Seems to go one direction a lot of the time and take a LONG sweep for turning. ??? I guess yuh kant start a pro eh?

 

[Blu Du]

all the dusters i have seen around here which isn' too many have been bi planes. up by our cabin the crazy bastard uses the hyway for a landing strip

 

[Sidehiller]

The only drawback to the biplanes is their inability to take off from a conveyor belt.

 

[Mooseknuckle]

Look something like this?

or more like

 

[Snorider]

down around the Plause they use bi planes all the time, and for the reason you mentioned earlier kinda, not so much to hold the weight going slower but to get hte lift needed to get down around and over hills. where I am at, no needing bi planes for dustin if you have a good ballsy operator but we got a new guy flyin now. he was a flat land sprayer and tried just going across the tops of the hills, we're getting him almost up ter standard.

 

[Ox]

Possibly similar to the first one maybe...

I am pretty sure the motor wasn't outboard like the second one. And If I saw the second one - I wouldn't have assumed that it was "modern".

???

The old guy had a reg wing plane - likely an outboard motor - very loud. Put me in mind of a war plane. Had the wings that kicked up a bit I think. ??? I think he got tangled up in the wires back in the late 70's or so, but his second plane looked quite a bit like the first.

Not sure how old the old guy was? I remember meeting him once when I was 8-10 yrs old one time when we took chemicals over there, but I kant even guess anymore how old he woulda been then? Kant even remember what he looked like... But that'd been 30+ yrs ago and I seen him flyin around just a cpl yrs ago, but he may have retired now. ???

 

[RMK7SledHead]

just hope it didn't look like this:

Engine quit on his first pass through a field with about 2000 lbs of dry fert on board. No way to get rid of dry material fast enough to climb. He missed that bailer in the backround (which was running at the time) by about 10', and as he touched the right wheel sunk and he flipped. Apparently, as he touched he said "oh sh!t" over the radio. Pilot's the guy with the helmet in his hands. Best ag pilot I've ever spotted for. 2nd engine failure he's had in that plane this year....he made sure he wouldn't have to fly it again.

 

[Mooseknuckle]

I no see um X


Ox I think that the top picture is an Ag-Cat, Grumman/Schweizer G-164 B. We've a few around here. Looks to me like a frakes kit (nose extension) with a turbine. Pilots on here may know better. If the plane you saw looked similar to the turbine picture, but the fuselage long more elongated, then it could have been a D model. The guys around here have all sorts, but the D models are the workhorses. Although a B model with a 1000+/- hp turbine on the front of it is quite a hot. Don't know, never flown one.

I'm one of those knotheads who could sit at the airstrip and watch them take off and land all day.

 

[Weekday Warrior]

I seen a documentary on crop duster planes quite ahwile ago



If memory serves they use bi-planes because of the way the wings spread the chemicals they spray. Wind circulates the spray better and more even than a single straight wing.



has nothing to do with how they fly

 

[Ox]

Looks like I found out why the new guy...

A quick search brought up just a cpl links to expired addresses - but just enough info on the search to show that he died @ 80 last spring.

I wonder if he flew in II? He'd'a been on the young side for a pilot I would think? Maybe Korea? Prolly never know now...

 

[DaveB]

I no see um X

I'm one of those knotheads who could sit at the airstrip and watch them take off and land all day.

Me too.....that's why I got into RC planes last year...good fun.