Aviationweb déjà vu                 Luchtvaart déjà vu aeroplanes gallery

Grumman G.164A Ag Cat
PH-APR PH-DAP
Grumman US-2N Tracker
160'V'
MLD 159/V MLD 160/V
Hughes 269C/300C
D-HBOL
D-HACA D-HBOL
PH-HBH PH-RYF
Schweizer 269D/330
PH-HHA PH-HHB
PH-HHF SE-JGS
5Y-AIZ Grumman G.164A AgCat c/n 422 - Farmers Airwork, Nakuru - Groningen Airport Eelde in Holland - 8 February 1969 agricultural planes

The Grumman G-164 Ag Cat is a bi-plane aircraft designed for agricultural crop spaying. The Grumman G-164 Ag Cat was certificated for agricultural work in January 1959, following development from the prototype that was flown first on 22 May 1957. Production aircraft were assembled by the Schweizer Aircraft Corporation between 1959 and 1979 under sub-contract from Grumman. In 1981, Schweizer bought the design and production rights. Until they sold the manufacturing rights to AgCat Corporation in 1995, the AgCat remained in production with Schweizer.

In December 1968, Dutch Air Sprayers, Siddeburen, was established by the agricultural pilots Slagman and Post with support of Agragflug, Worms, Germany. However it was an Eelde based operator most of their aircraft were hard to see at the airport. One of the first signs of flying activity was the arrival of Grumman G-164A Ag Cat 5Y-AIZ on 8 February 1969. This Ag Cat was destined for Farmers Air Work Ltd. in Kenya and was flown by Dutch Air Sprayers. On 13 February, Ag Cat 5Y-AIZ departed on delivery to its homebase Nakuru in Kenya. Mid-April 1969, Grumman G.164A Ag Cat's SE-ENW and SE-ENT arrived by car at Groningen-Eelde. They were brought in flying condition and registered PH-DAP and PH-DAS. Dutch Air Sprayers flew all over the world in countries like Sudan, South Africa and Suriname. Next to the PH-DAP & PH-DAS they operated at least the Ag Cats D-FACU and D-FADA. For crop-spraying a Hughes 300 was leased from Merava, Germany. As the Benelux dealer for Champion they operated Champion 7GCBC Citabria N7566F. For sightseeing and instruction flights Cessna F.172H PH-VVV and Cessna TU206C PH-EEG were operated. During an auction, four ex.RLS Beech D-18S (PH-UDH, PH-UDS, PH-UDU and PH-UES) were bought on behalf of Agrarflug GmbH, Worms, Germany / International Ag-Cat Distributors Inc., Arlington (VA), USA, for a total of DFL.120.000. The aircraft were parked in front of the German hangar at Groningen-Eelde awaiting resale. Next to the Beech D-18S, Piper L-18C Super Cub N8944 was parked and offered for sale. Dutch Air Sprayers defunct in 1971.

On 8 February 1969, Grumman G-164A AgCat 5Y-AIZ was seen in front of the German hangar at Groningen Airport Eelde. That day, the aircraft came in on its delivery flight to Farmers Airwork Ltd. in Kenya. The aircraft was flown by Gerard Post, one of the founders of Dutch Air Sprayers. On 13 February, Ag Cat 5Y-AIZ, flown by Gerard Post, resumed the delivery flight to its new homebase Nakuru in Kenya. The 1966-built Grumman G-164A Ag Cat c/n 422 was testflown as N901X. In August 1967, in Germany registration D-FACY was reserved for Agrar-Flug GmbH. On 3 March 1968, the aircraft was registered D-FACY with Agrar-Flug GmbH, Worms. On 10 January 1969, registration D-FACY was cancelled after the Ag Cat was sold to Farmers Airwork Ltd., Nairobi, and in February 1969 the aircraft was registered 5Y-AIZ with Farmers Airwork Ltd., Nairobi. On 31 January 1977, the Grumman G-164A was registered ZS-JWV in South-Africa with N.J. Towill, George.

page last updated: 16-02-2015
Copyright © Jack Wolbrink, Emmen, the Netherlands
 

  aeroplanes index   helicopters index   EC120 - H120 productionlist   Micro Light Aeroplanes   European Airfields