Huff-Daland Duster opens the era of agricultural aviation

It may look like an ordinary early aircraft, but Huff-Daland Duster changed the rules of the game. The first crop duster built in 1925, nicknamed "Puffer", changed the direction of the emerging aviation industry-starting with Wright Flyer 20 years ago-by focusing on the precise purpose of the new design, and committed to making bigger A better biplane.

"In terms of practicality, this is undoubtedly one of the first aircraft developed for this specific type of work," Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum and the new Thomas W. Haas We All Fly Gallery curator Dorothy Cochrane Said it will open in the autumn of 2022. "Once this idea of ​​aerial application of agriculture begins to take shape, almost everyone agrees that this is the way to go."

Agricultural aviation took off a century ago, and on August 3, 1921, the first crop spraying experiment was conducted in the fields of Ohio. The U.S. Army Air Service, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, used World War I to treat trees plagued by sphinx caterpillars similar to a Curtiss JN-4D Jenny trainer.

As news of the success spread, farmers across the country are eager to try new methods of treating crops with pesticides and fertilizers. Before that, the application of chemicals on mule-driven trucks was inefficient. The new aerial technology showed promise, although the first few years were mostly trial and error. The chemicals were used randomly from a large tin box tied to the side of a military surplus biplane.

With the development of Huff-Daland Duster in 1925, the situation changed. Stimulated by the devastating attack of cotton boll weevil on cotton crops, aviation pioneer and Delta Air Lines founder Colette Everman "CE" Woolman conceived this concept in collaboration with government entomologist BR Coad Aircraft, the aircraft has a variety of innovative designs, including a dust bucket installed in the fuselage behind the pilot for convenient and accurate application.

Pufferfish-a collection of the National Air and Space Museum and on display at the Udvar-Hazy Center-was also one of the first aircraft to adopt a cantilever design, which eliminated the need for support lines on the pillars. This reduction in drag helps the biplane to be more aerodynamic and responsive to pilot control.

"Woolman uses spruce wings to increase strength," Cochrane said. "Each is a one-piece structure, so the biplane has two solid wings. Before, you really had four wings, which required struts and wires to support."

As the president of Huff-Daland Duster Co., Woolman has built at least 14 aircraft for his commercial crop dusting business. Only two original aircraft survived. Both parts were used to restore the Smithsonian's duster, which was collected in 1968.

While Woolman established the crop dusting business, he was working on another aviation dream-passenger flights. "The only monotonous part of the aviation industry," he said, "is constant change." He changed the company's name to Delta Air Services and began providing passenger services in 1929. Prior to 1966, crop dusting services had been a division of Delta Air Lines.

From that small beginning, agricultural aviation has developed into a major industry sector. Crop spraying and related fields have a significant impact on agriculture, pasture, forestry and other commercial fields. GPS systems and modern avionics ensure precise application and limit public exposure to hazardous chemicals.

"Now this is a huge business," Cochrane said. "Nearly 30% of the country's crops are treated with air. The world economy and food supply depend to a large extent on the precise spraying of agricultural aviation."

"The only monotonous thing in the aviation industry is constant change"

According to a 2019 survey by the National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA), today, more than 1,500 companies use more than 3,500 aircraft for agricultural aviation in all 50 states in the United States. Thanks in large part to an innovator with "constant change as the key", the industry has developed into a multifunctional operation that not only protects crops, but also fertilizes the fields, sows seeds and helps control Countless dangerous insects around the globe.

"We processed 127 million acres of farmland across the United States," said Andrew Moore, CEO of NAAA. "This does not include pastures, forests and firefighting, let alone public health sprays, including mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus, encephalitis, Zika virus and other diseases."

In many respects, Huff-Daland Duster was the "grandfather" of subsequent agricultural aircraft, including Grumman G-164 Ag-Cat and aerial tractor AT-301/400A, and is better known as the Dusty Crophopper in Disney's 2013 movie airplane.

"Duster is the right plane at the right time," Cochrane said. "It helped cement the notion that air applications are an essential tool for agriculture."

David Kindy is Smithsonian's daily correspondent. He is also a journalist, freelance writer and book critic based in Plymouth, Massachusetts. He has written articles on history, culture, and other topics for aerospace, military history, World War II, Vietnam, aviation history, Providence magazine and other publications and websites.

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