Old crop-duster headed for Smithsonian

The machine’s contributions to agriculture are being honored nationally.

Sacramento Bee

WOODLAND, Calif. — Ah no, it wasn’t Neolithic pottery or 16th century Nigerian art that Ralph Holsclaw donated to the Smithsonian Institution. It was a biplane crop-duster. Really.

Holsclaw, of Woodland, Calif., went through the National Agricultural Aviation Association to donate the vintage airplane to bring attention to the contributions of agricultural aircraft. The Smithsonian was happy to oblige.

Sometime in late summer or early fall, his beloved 1962 Grumman G-164 Ag Cat will be suspended by cables inside the massive Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. It will be on display above a supersonic Concorde. The Concorde’s top speed was 1,490 mph, while the Grumman skimmed farm fields at 90 mph.

“Grumman built the first airplane specifically designed for crop-dusting,” says Holsclaw.

Holsclaw says he doesn’t consider himself a pilot (although he is), but felt the recognition would positively reflect the role crop-dusting and its pilots have had on feeding the world.

“I’m a business owner and, yeah, I fly airplanes,” says Holsclaw, who can’t remember when he last flew a crop-duster. He prefers his business dealings and hunting. “My idea of flying is first class and with a martini in my hand,” he cracks.

Today, crop-dusting may be called by its more modern name — aerial application. Instead of a flagman signaling where to make the next pass, modern aerial applicators are equipped with global positioning systems.

Pilots still fly 8 to 10 feet off the ground and spread their loads in fields before pulling up and over power lines, towers and trees. However, dust is no longer used. Applications of seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides now are applied in spray form.

The 1962 Grumman was among the first built by the company for crop-dusting. Among its features is an emphasis on safety. Unlike the Stearmans, Grumman crop-dusters came with a roll-over bar and reinforced cockpit.

According to Holsclaw, his Grumman has logged nearly 13,000 flight hours. He estimates about $40,000 was spent on preparing the yellow-and-gray biplane for showing.

The Grumman soon will be disassembled inside a hangar at Medlock Field in Woodland, carefully packed then trucked across the United States to the museum. Smithsonian staff members and two of Holsclaw’s mechanics will then reassemble the Grumman.

“That airplane can be put together in a day if you have four or five people to help lift the wings up and to bolt the plane together,” Holsclaw says.

Crop-dusting has been a farmer’s best friend since the 1920s when a World War I “Jenny” dropped a load of pesticide on the Catalpa sphinx moth near Dayton, Ohio.