THE FAMILIAR PAWNEE

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30811, 24 July 1965, Page 9

THE FAMILIAR PAWNEE

(By

J.K.)

THE camel-humped, strutbraced and almost ugly Piper Pawnee aircraft is a silhouette being seen more frequently in the skies over New Zealand. Since the introduction of the first Pawnees in 1960, the local Piper agent, Airwork New Zealand, Ltd- has imported some 58 Pawnees for use in agricultural operations. It was specifically developed to meet the requirements of a low-cost aeroplane which could disperse a wide range

of agricultural chemicals — liquid to dry. Safety is the key to the design, development and operation of the Pawnee. Exhaustive study into agricultural pilot injuries by the Crash Injury Research Unit of Cornell Medical College during the 1950’s recommended a solution to the problem of building a crashproof agricultural aircraft. Piper built their Pawnee to incorporate these recommendations.

In 1959 the first Pawnee aircraft were manufactured with a 150 h.p. motor. Fourteen of this type were imported into New Zealand. In 1963 a 235 h.p. motor was fitted, and to date 44 of this version have been imported. The Pawnee 235 can tarry 4001 b more than the Pawnee 150. The Piper Company sold 1345 Pawnees up to 1964 which represents 75 per cent of United States manufactured agricultural aircraft. Half of these Pawnees were sold on the foreign market.