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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 0607.PDF
FLIGHT, 30 March 1951 375 PROTECTIVE AIGLETS Latest Equipment Used for Successful Spraying in the Sudan AT Boston airfield, Lines, on March 20th, a demonstra- /% tion of crop-spraying by fixed-wing aircraft was staged by Aerial Spraying Contractors, Ltd., in col- laboration with Auster Aircraft, Ltd., and Shell. The Auster company took the opportunity to advance the claim that a long period of experimental and operational spraying with their aircraft has proved that these machines, and the spray- ing equipment fitted, are "completely successful." The costs, it is claimed, are far below those of the helicopter and, for all but very small individual acreages, are even lower than for ground machinery. So far as can be determined by the company, the crop-spraying Auster is superior to anything available in America, where the technique has been developed to a very high pitch and on a vast scale. The most important operation undertaken (and, incident- ally, one of the biggest attempted outside North America by fixed-wing aircraft) was in the Sudan, during last October and November. Three Aiglets, owned by Aerial Spraying Contractors, Ltd., of Boston, Lincolnshire, were flown out to Khartoum, the 3,200-mile journey being completed in 34 flying hours, spread over ten days. On arrival the Aiglets undertook the spraying of 17,000 acres of cotton against cot- ton jassid, a pest which is difficult to control since the effective spraying period is short and the insect lives and feeds entirely on the undersides of the leaves. The Auster company states that doubts previously ex- pressed as to the ability of the spray from fixed-wing aircraft to reach the underside of foliage were quite dispelled by the operation, the success of which was proved to entomologists who examined and reported on the results. Agricultural The uppermost view is of an Auster Aiglet (Cipsy Major I engine) demonstrating the low-altitude spraying technique referred to on this page. Of the details below, that on the left is of the Aiglet's airscrew-driven pump and spraying nozzles; the second close-up shows the port section of the \ spray-bar and nozzles. The spraying equipment was designed by Mr. P. C. Andrews, of Aerial Spraying Contractors, Ltd.
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