Leland Snow was an American aeronautical engineer known for designing and developing agricultural aircraft. He was the founder and president of both

Snow Aeronautical Snow Aeronautical was an American aircraft manufacturer established in 1956 in Olney, Texas by Leland Snow to manufacture and market agricultural aircraft of his design. History Leland Snow, a graduate of the aeronautical engineering program ...

(in 1956), and

Air Tractor Air Tractor Inc. is a United States aircraft manufacturer based in Olney, Texas. Founded in 1978 in aviation, 1978, the company began manufacturing a new agricultural aircraft derived from the Ayres Thrush, S-2B aircraft (designed by found ...

(1972).

Snow began designing the Snow S-1

crop duster A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, Fiber, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same spe ...

aircraft in 1951 when he was 21 years old. By 1953 the aircraft was completed and test flown, and Snow began dusting and spraying both in Texas and elsewhere. After four years of field trials, Snow founded the Snow Aeronautical Company and started production of the Snow S-2 at

Olney, Texas Olney is a city in Young County, Texas, United States. Its population was 3,007 as of the 2020 census. History On May 18, 1951, the city was devastated by a violent F4 tornado. Thomas P. Grazulis noted this tornado was a possible F5 on the Fuj ...

. Snow sold the company to

Rockwell-Standard Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate. It was involved in aircraft, the space industry, defense and commercial electronics, components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avionics and industrial produ ...

in 1965, and as part of the deal became vice president of 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, manufacturers of a whole range of

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

aircraft. Rockwell continued production at Olney for a while, initially marketing the aircraft as the S-2D Ag Commander, and with further improvements and production moved to Georgia, it became the Rockwell S-2R Thrush Commander. In 1977 the design was sold on the Ayres Corporation who produced it as the Ayres S-2R Thrush, and in 2003 after yet another transfer and further modifications, an aircraft based on the original Snow design saw it manufactured and sold as the Thrush Corporation 510 where it was still in production in 2024, over 60 years after its first flight. Meanwhile, back in 1970, with Rockwell's S-2R production moved to Georgia, Leland Snow resigned as Vice-President, allowing him to found Air Tractor Inc in 1972, back once again at Olney, Texas. His design for their first aircraft was obviously influenced by his experience with the S-2, but the AT-300 required a new type certificate, awarded in 1973. Snow continued to expand the company and the range of aircraft produced, right up until his death on February 20, 2011, in

Wichita Falls, Texas Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls metropolitan area, Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Archer County, Tex ...

References

Notes

External links

Official website
2011 deaths People from Olney, Texas 20th-century American inventors American businesspeople {{US-inventor-stub