Yeoman Cropmaster
The Yeoman Cropmaster was an agricultural aircraft that was developed from decommissioned by the RAAF CAC Wackett - training aircraft by the Australian manufacturer Yeoman Aviation.
History and construction
The Yeoman Aviation was a subsidiary of Kingsford Smith Aviation Services, was established to develop agricultural aircraft, or to produce. Kingsford Smith Aviation had acquired a number of Wacketts after their withdrawal from the RAAF. Four of them were converted for agricultural use in the late 1950s to KS -3 Cropmaster. The renovation included little more than the installation of a chemical container, instead of the rear seat and some minor changes to the wings.
In contrast, occurred when converting the YA- 1 Cropmaster major changes to the Wackett cell. The Wackett fuselage structure of steel tube was retained but built a 650 -liter chemical containers instead of the rear seat. However, the fuselage had to part with metal plates and fiberglass parts ( the Wackett was covered with fabric ) to be strengthened. The wings were originally made of wood and were replaced by wings made of metal at the Cropmaster. The first five aircraft retained the rear of the Wackett of wood, various machines were one of metal, including a new tailplane, a swept fin and larger rowing. Was retained by the Wackett also not retractable spur wheel chassis. The Sternmortor the Wackett was replaced by a boxer engine. In the YA- 1 250 a Lycoming O -540 with 250 hp and a Hartzell propeller, at the YA- 1 250R a Continental IO -470 of 250 bhp and also either equipped with a Hartzell or McCauley propeller was. A planned version with tricycle landing gear was the YA -1B, but none of which were built. Another variant was the YA- 1285 with a 285 hp (213 kW) Continental engine. However, it is not clear whether this variant was constructed. The first Cropmaster, a YA- 1250, launched on 15 January 1960. Their first flight. Twenty more aircraft were rebuilt before production ceased in 1966. As developed at the same time CAC Ceres could not compete with more modern Cropmaster agricultural aircraft.
A single Wackett, as Yeoman designated 175, was converted, enabling retention of the original engine to a flying test bed to test the new all-metal tail.
The next development was the Cropmaster 300 In the wings, the wingspan was increased to 11.28 m. The empennage remained unchanged and also the spur wheel chassis was retained, however, a new main landing gear was installed. New plastic fuel tanks, mounted between the front and rear wing spars increased the fuel capacity to 195 liters. In addition, the capacity of the Chemikalienbehäters was increased. The cockpit was widened so that a passenger was seated next to the pilot.
A YA- 1 Cropmaster 250 (ex VH - DEQ ) was sold in 1964 to New Zealand, where they saw service as ZK- CDI several years. In 1968 bought Hanes IN the machine and built it, after removal of the chemical container, in a three-seat machine to travel. This machine has now been referred to as Yeoman - Hanes 250 and flew until 1990, when it was severely damaged in an accident. Finally, the damaged machine was sold back to Australia and brought back to airworthy condition, so that she could fly again in December 2001 as VH - FBC.