Flying One of the First Ag Planes Ever Built - The Snow S-2A
In October, we made plans to visit Tyson’s Dad and Step-Mom who live outside of Little Rock, Arkansas. Air Repair is an ag aircraft dealer and maintenance shop located in Cleveland, Mississippi and we knew we’d be within a relatively close drive of there staying at Tyson’s dad’s place. Normally we wouldn’t seek out specific dealers or maintenance shops, but there’s something special about Air Repair. For the last year or so, they have maintained and hangared a fully restored and operating Snow S-2. The Snow S-2 was one of Leland Snow’s first aircraft designed specifically for ag aviation. The Snow S-2 followed shortly after the S-1, which was the very first rendition and the second airplane ever designed specifically for ag aviation. Check out the Ag Aviation Timeline here to learn more.
Leland Snow is the pioneer of Ag Aviation and he is the brains behind both of the two most popular ag aircraft used today. After the Snow S-2, he went on to rename/redevelop under the name Thrush Aircraft. When Thrush moved from Texas to Georgia, Leland resigned and started Air Tractor. It’s hard to say what Ag Aviation would be today without Leland Snow. What’s even more wild, shortly after Leland, who at the time was 23, completed test flights with the S-1 in 1953 he flew the S-1 on application jobs in both Texas AND in Nicaragua until 1957. Ag Air Update has dubbed Leland Snow “the godfather of the modern ag aircraft” and we couldn’t agree more.
Back to our experience, but this really didn’t feel appropriate without a little background on Leland Snow. To be able to fly a fully restored Snow S-2 is an absolutely incredible opportunity and one we couldn’t let go of. So we drove the 4 hour one-way drive down to Cleveland on a beautiful sunny day in October. Pete Jones kindly took part of his morning to meet with us, get the Snow out of the Hangar, fill it with oil and fuel, and run Tyson through it.
I don’t really see Tyson nervous too often, but I could tell he was quite nervous to fly this airplane. Not only is it a major piece of Ag Aviation history, but it is beautifully restored and one of the only ones flying today. No pressure.
We mounted a few cameras on the Snow and Tyson was off. I was a little bummed because I only got to see the takeoff and then see him fly off into the distance. I didn’t really get any great photos from the ground. When he landed, some new friends from the town over were waiting for us. Jon and Angela Byrd had flown over in a Citabria to meet up with us. We only ever knew Jon and Angela from the internet and were also blown away that they took time out of their day to come meet up with us.
Jon told me to jump in the Citabria and we’d go chase Tyson around in the Snow. I couldn’t believe it and I was so stoked to actually get some shots of Tyson flying from the air. I’ve always wanted to take photos while flying of other airplanes but have never had the opportunity (spoiler alert it is way harder than anyone makes it look!). We’re very appreciative of Jon and Angela for this experience.
Overall, we had such an incredible experience of both Tyson flying the Snow and me being able to watch him fly from the air. Tyson loved every second of flying the Snow and it was evident in his beaming smile after he landed. He’s never even flown an open-cockpit aircraft before so I think that alone was a cool experience. Not to mention flying one of the first-ever ag-specific airplanes. He said he couldn’t even imagine working in one. The seat alone was quite uncomfortable.
We had the best day and we were so happy to have made the drive down to Cleveland. We didn’t really have any expectations of what would come of the day but we were blown away by every aspect. Pete’s generosity with his time getting us off the ground, Air Repair, Air Tractor, and others making it possible for ag pilots to fly this piece of history, and Jon and Angela for meeting up with us in the Citabria. Honestly, we think back to this day now and it just brings a huge smile to our faces.
Here are some more things to check out:
Snow Tee
We’re also working on a tee design that will be coming to the shop soon. What do you think?