: ''For the

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

unmanned Quail drone aircraft, see

ADM-20 Quail The McDonnell ADM-20 Quail was a subsonic, jet powered, air-launched decoy cruise missile built by McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. The Quail was designed to be launched by the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber and its original Unite ...

.'' The IMCO CallAir A-9 is an

agricultural aircraft An agricultural aircraft is an aircraft that has been built or converted for agricultural use – usually aerial application of pesticides (crop dusting) or fertilizer (aerial topdressing); in these roles, they are referred to as "crop duste ...

that first flew in 1962, a development of the company's previous successful crop-dusters. It is typical of aircraft of its type - a single-seat aircraft with a low

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

incorporating spraying gear.

Design and development

The

Call Aircraft Company The Call Aircraft Company (CAC or CallAir) was established by Reuel Call in 1939 at Afton, Wyoming, to build a touring aircraft of his own design. History The Call Aircraft Company hoped to advance the development of its CallAir Model A to the poi ...

(CAC) had built the

CallAir Model A The Call-Air Model A is an American two- to three-seat utility aircraft designed by the Call brothers and built by the Call Aircraft Company, later developed into a successful line of agricultural aircraft. Design and development The Model A was d ...

series of light utility and agricultural aircraft. Following the purchase of CAC in 1962 by

Intermountain Manufacturing Company The Intermountain Manufacturing Company (IMCO) was a US aircraft manufacturer of the 1960s based in Afton, Wyoming that produced agricultural aircraft. IMCO was formed in 1962 to purchase the assets of the failed Call Aircraft Company, and the f ...

(IMCO) the latter produced a new agricultural derivative of the Callair, the CallAir A-9. Production of the new aircraft started in 1963.Taylor 1965, pp. 246–247. Like the earlier CallAir aircraft, the A-9 is a single-engined

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

with a braced low wing. It is of mixed construction, with a fabric-covered steel-tube fuselage structure and a wood-and-fabric wing. The pilot sits behind the chemical hopper, and the cockpit is enclosed by two removable, bottom-hinged doors that form the left and right side windows. The aircraft is powered by a single

Lycoming O-540 The Lycoming O-540 is a family of air-cooled six-cylinder, horizontally opposed fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter engines of displacement, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. The engine is a six-cylinder version of the four-cylinder Lycoming O- ...

flat-six A flat-six engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-six, is a six-cylinder piston engine with three cylinders on each side of a central crankshaft. The most common type of flat-six engine is the boxer-six engine, where each pair of opposed c ...

piston engine."A-9 Owners Manual: Serials 1048, 1111, 1117 & Up"
. Retrieved 23 February 2013. Later, some A-9s have been adapted for glider towing operations. IMCO was in turn purchased by

Rockwell International Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It was involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avioni ...

in 1966, which built the plane under its

Aero Commander Aero Commander was an aircraft manufacturer formed in 1944. In subsequent years, it became a subsidiary of Rockwell International and Gulfstream Aerospace. The company ceased aircraft production in 1986. History Aero was formed in Culver City, ...

division before shifting production to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

in 1971, under a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

there called AAMSA. Production ceased in 1984.

Variants

;A-9 :Original variant, powered by a 235 hp (175 kW)

-B2B5. Built by CallAir, IMCO and Aero Commander (as the Sparrow Commander) ;A-9B (Super) :Version with 290 hp (216 kW)

Lycoming IO-540 The Lycoming O-540 is a family of air-cooled six-cylinder, horizontally opposed fixed-wing aircraft and helicopter engines of displacement, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. The engine is a six-cylinder version of the four-cylinder Lycoming O-3 ...

or Lycoming TIO-540. Built by Aero Commander (as the Quail Commander). ;B-1 :Enlarged A-9 with a 400 hp (298 kW)

Lycoming IO-720 The Lycoming IO-720 engine is a large displacement, horizontally opposed, eight-cylinder aircraft engine featuring four cylinders per side, manufactured by Lycoming Engines. There is no carbureted version of the engine, which would have bee ...

-A1A engine and 42 ft 8 in (13.00 m) wingspan. First flight January 15, 1966.Taylor 1966, pp. 261–262. Built by IMCO and Aero Commander (as the Snipe Commander). 36 built. ;AAMSA A9B : Licensed production by Aeronautica Agricola Mexicana SA (AAMSA) powered by Lycoming IO-540-K1A5 engine and hopper. 101 built by AAMSA,Taylor 1982, p. 155 with a further 17 assembled from Mexican-built components at

Laredo, Texas Laredo ( ; ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Webb County, Texas, Webb County, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Founded in 1755, Laredo grew from a villag ...

by Aircraft Parts and Development Corporation. ;AAMSA A9B-M : Improved version of A9M, with cut down rear fuselage, redesigned cockpit, and increased wing dihedral. 36 built.Simpson 1995, p. 104 ;A9B-M Quail 'Naco' :Two seat military trainer aircraft built in Mexico by AAMSA, based on A9B-M. Single example (EPA-1) preserved at Museo Militar de Aviación - MUMA, Mexico City.

Specifications (AAMSA A9B-M Quail)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * * Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965-66''. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1965. * Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1966-67''. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1966. * Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1982-83''. London:Jane's Yearbooks, 1982. .

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Callair A-9 1970s Mexican agricultural aircraft 1960s United States agricultural aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aero Commander aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1963 IMCO aircraft Single-engined piston aircraft Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear

Design and development

Variants

Specifications (AAMSA A9B-M Quail)

See also

References

External links