Ohio Agricultural Monoplane ?

[hesham]

From Krila 3/1956,

here is a profile drawing to Ohio Aviation Research & Development Foundation for an agricultural
airplane,maybe a Project ?,and from Aerifiles site;

1956 = 1pChwM agricultural plane; 115hp; span: 29'0" length: 22'1" load: 624#. Reworked Piper J-3 fuselage and
wing with tip plates. The pilot sat in a raised cockpit on top of the wing with a fine view of the countryside.

American airplanes: O

 

[walter]

Hi Hesham!
This project was actually built. See attached (sorry for bad quality) photo and some details.
single-seat ag-plane
one 108hp Lycoming O-235-C piston engine
wingspan 29ft; length 22.067ft
DETAILS: The purely experimental Ag-Plane was an ag-plane modification of a Piper J3 and it was a programme of the Ohio Aviation Research & Development Foundation. This project had many participants and included several light aircraft manufacturers such as Piper, Aeronca and the Lycoming engine manufacturer. In addition, help was given by the US Department of Agriculture and advice from specialists and pilots active in ag-aviation was sought. The J3 construction was kept intact as much as possible, but the aircraft had a much modified cockpit, which had been located in a much raised position above the wings. This feature was later found back in most specialised ag-plane designs. The aircraft was first flown in 1952 or 1953 and purely built for test and R&D purposes and it was powered by one 108hp Lycoming O-235-C engine.
Production: 1

I am not sure, but a photo may have appeared in a 1957/1958 issue of Air Progress

 

[walter]

Hi Hesham!
Another (equally bad) photo of the Ohio Ag-Plane and some additional text.
Beginning in the late 1940s and continuing into the 1950s, the airport partnered with the farming community to research equipment for crop dusting. Charles W. Kellenbarger, aircraft maintenance supervisor at Ohio State Airport, worked on the Ohio Project. This was “an airplane developed by the Ohio Flying Farmers Association, The Ohio State University, Civil Aeronautics Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and others, for use in spraying and dusting farm crops." A modified version of the Piper J-3, the airplane was built to take off from and land on short farm fields. (Science and Mechanics, 8/1956) However, the plane crashed in 1957 and the project was halted.
100 USG tank installed in original cockpit, below the pilot. Covering was of flame resistant Orlon.