Location: Safford, Graham, Arizona, United States

Surnames/tags: Davis crop dusting
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Davis Aerial Service in Whitman County, Washington, 1959 |
Davis Aerial Service used Piper Cubs, a popular plane due to its ability for "STOL" - Short Take-Offs and Landings. The business often used short, straight stretches of county roads for take-off and landing when an airport was not nearby. Piper Cubs were used during World War II and the Korean War for observation, as an air ambulance, and transporting military leaders and supplies.[3] For crop dusting, airplanes were specially fitted with spray nozzles for applying herbicides and pesticides. In the early days, flaggers were employed who stood in the fields waving flags to show the pilots where to spray, moving after each pass of the plane until an entire field was sprayed. Automatic flagman equipment replaced people in the late 1960s. In Washington, the business operated in the rolling Palouse Hills, and planes and pilots needed to be able to fly low and follow the curves of the hills. More than one airplane crashed in Washington.[2] During the 1960's, Alvon demonstrated that spray planes could be useful for fighting grain fires.[4]
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Von Davis with Lucky ca 1966 |
After Alvon died in an airplane accident in 1968,[6][7] Walton and Edna took over the Washington operation until Walton retired in 1975 and sold the business.[8][2] Les operated the Safford business until 1985 when he became active at the state level, representing aerial applicators as a lobbyist.[9]
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Walt Davis' business card |
Sources
- ↑ Edna (Workman) Davis, “Memories,” handwritten manuscript, before 1980, Steptoe, Whitman County, Washington; privately held by Connie Davis, [address for private use], Hope, British Columbia, 2022.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Memory of Connie Davis.
- ↑ "Piper J-3 Cub," Wikipedia, (Piper J-3 Cub : accessed 28 October 20230.
- ↑ “Service set Friday for Alvon H. Davis,” obituary, The Colfax Gazette (Colfax, Washington), 5 September 1968, page 3, column 1.
- ↑ "Lee M. Colley," obituary, Lewiston Morning Tribune (Lewiston, Idaho), 27 April 1990; digital image, GenealogyBank.com (link : accessed 28 October 2023).
- ↑ Arizona Department of Health, death certificate 68-008037 (1968), Alvon Hale Davis; Division of Vital Records, Phoenix; original in files of Connie Davis.
- ↑ “Aviation Database,” Final Report #LAX69F0142, Elfrida, Cochise County, Arizona, 30 August 1968, database, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB : accessed 9 January 2016).
- ↑ “Walton L. Davis obituary,” Colfax Gazette, Colfax, Whitman Co., WA, May 1980, unknown page, clipping provided by Edna (Workman) Davis, held in 1994 by Connie Davis.
- ↑ “Leslie Walton Davis,” obituary, Eastern Arizona Courier, Safford, AZ, 30 Apr 2014, downloaded 1 May 2014.
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