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by Don Euton
The Katy Prairie rice growing area consisted of parts of Harris, Fort Bend and Waller Counties. From the City of Katy, the rice growing area extended southeast eight miles to Clodine, seven miles southwest to Fulshear, eight miles west to Brookshire, 16 miles north to Waller and Hockley, 18 miles east-northeast to Fairbanks and 15 miles east to Houston. Most of the rice marketed in this area was through the American Rice Growers Association, Katy Division.
Dusting crops started on the Katy Prairie in the 1940s and 50s when most of the flying was out of cow pastures. During the early 1960s, through the 1980s, the area had over 100 active duster airstrips. Today, only seven airstrips are used.
At one time, more than 120 rice growers farmed the Katy Prairie. Now, there are only eight. Formed in the 1920s, the Katy Prairie rice growing area was one of the major rice producting areas in Texas. In the 1970s, there were over 65,000 acres of rice and 35,000 acres of soybeans in production. In 2007, due to Houston’s urban sprawl and the rice farming economical situation, there were only about 8,000 acres of rice and no soybeans planted.
At the peak of agricultural aviation on the Katy Prairie, there were five operators with over 20 aircraft flying. Today there are no operators based in this area since Patti Payne closed Payne Flying Service. Lane Aviation (Rosenberg) and Double L Flying Service (East Bernard) are presently servicing the Katy Prairie.
Katy Dusting Company
George P. Nelson, a local rice farmer, formed Katy Dusting Company in 1952 making it the first locally owned and permanently based ag flying business on the Katy Prairie. The first aircraft locally owned and permanently based here was a Super Cub, which was flown by James Barham. Two 220 hp Stearmans were added and Van Scroggins took over the management and flying the following year. Van later bought and operated Katy Dusting Co., Inc. and operated it through 1977.
Boyington Flying Service
Ray “Pappy” Boyington was based out of Pearland. He came to the Katy Prairie in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He kept a 450 hp Stearman on an east-west strip along the south side of Highway 90, two miles west of Katy. In the early 1950s, I remember his 450 hp Stearmans taking off from a pasture at Barker, where he was spraying 2,4-D and fertilizing rice.
In the early 1960s, Pappy used Bud King’s airstrip to work a mirex (ant bait) contract. The contract required the pilot to wear a crash helmet, but Pappy liked to fly with a cloth helmet and goggles. Bud said Pappy would take off and make a wide swing out of sight before he started his passes and used a long final approach on landing. The Feds would see him wearing his crash helmet when he took off and landed, but he was making the switch in the air. I never met Pappy, but I have seen him fly and I understand he was quite an ag-aviation pioneer in those days.
Van Scroggins
Van Scroggins was a WWII bomber pilot who served his country flying B-25s and B-26s over the Pacific Ocean. After the war, he settled in Katy and opened Katy Feed and Supply. He also sold fertilizer and chemicals. In the 1950s, he operated 220 hp Stearmans.
The first airplane crash I ever saw was in the summer of 1954. I was an 11-year old watching a Stearman take-off and land in a pasture next to my home place near Barker. Van Scroggins was the pilot. I watched the overloaded 220 hp Stearman stagger off the ground. The tail caught the top wire on a barbed wire fence and pulled the airplane down into a rice field. I was only a half a mile away. I could see the silver wings wobbling as he went through another fence and over several levees. He then lost control and stood the Stearman on its nose in a canal with the tail straight up in the air. When I got there, Van was fine. His only comment was, “Don’t anyone light a cigarette.” He said they had loaded him with an extra sack or two of fertilizer. The wings were removed and the aircraft pulled back to Van’s airport. He had it flying in two days!
Van took crop dusting orders for Ray Boyington and then flew for and managed George Nelson’s (Katy Dusting Company) Super Cub and Stearmans. He later bought Katy Dusting Co. and operated it until 1977.
At a College Station meeting for the Texas AAA, Leland Snow introduced the S2-A to the crop dusters in attendance. Before Van could write a check, Leland placed him #9 on the list of buyers. He bought several of the S2-As with the 240 hp engine, adding them to his fleet of Super Cubs and Stearmans. He later converted the S2-As to use 450 hp engines. In the mid-1960s, Van’s five or six Stearmans were converted to high lift wings and were used primarily for fertilizing. The 450 hp S-2As were used for spraying and fertilizing. He bought one Ag-Cat in the early 1970s that was mainly used for spraying. In the mid 1970s, Van bought two or three 600 hp Thrushes and was still using some of the 450 hp Stearmans for fertilizing.
During the 1977 season, Van’s son, Van Edward, was tragically killed in an accident. Van sold out to Pat Moore at the end of the season.
Some of Van’s pilots included Van Edward (son), Frank Fennen, Don Alford, Tommy Hines, Millard Hixon, Pat Moore, Dave Devine, Berry Owens, Roy Staley, Ernie Bodie, Wayne Kay and Billy Wayne Mahaffey.
Ray Matthews - Fairbanks Area
In the mid 1950s, Ray Matthews had a couple of 450 hp Stearmans in the far-east side of the Katy Prairie rice growing area, near the settlement of Fairbanks. Ray was a superb mechanic who built-up his own Stearmans and engines. He owned a machine shop and could make parts that he needed.
Ray’s pilot was George Jobs. George did not know it, but in those days he was my inspiration. My family farmed rice on the Josey Ranch from 1956-1964. George flew for us many of those years. He made hammerhead turns most of the time and made crop dusting look exciting and easy. Once, while I was flagging, he ran out of fertilizer as he passed over me. He hauled back on the Stearman hard enough I could see one hand on the stick, while motioning to me with the other not to take any steps. George and Ray parted company in the late 1960s. Ray sold his airplanes and equipment to Van Scroggins in 1969.
The last time I saw George was over 15 years ago. He was flying for Norve Thompson in El Campo. I talked to a rice farmer in El Campo three years ago and he told me George was living near Victoria.
Franz Air Service
Local rice farmer, Kenneth Franz, started Franz Air Service in 1956. He used two or three Super Cubs for top dressing and spraying rice.
His pilots were Jerry Whitfield, Cecil L. “Bud” King and Nick Nichels.
He sold out to Bud King in 1959. Jerry Whitfield went south of Bay City, where he operated for many years. I was told he still flies periodically for Ronnie Fehmel.
Warren Peek
Warren Peek was a local rice farmer who bought a Callair about 1957 or 1958. He was only in business a couple of years. Jerry Whitfield was one of his pilots.
Bud King - Farm Air Service
Cecil L. “Bud” King started his company about 1959 with a Callair, then added two 450 hp Stearmans for fertilizing. He also used Super Cubs and Champions for spraying. He also used Sorenson belly tanks until 1963 when operators went to high volume (10 gpa) applications for herbicide work. In the 1960s, he added 245 hp Ag-Cats to the fleet and later bought 450 hp Ag-Cats. They were used for the spraying, while the Stearmans fertilized.
Bud’s beautiful 450 hp Stearmans were re-built by Mr. Brockman at the Pearland Airport. Bud was particular with the looks of his airplanes. I remember once, Mr. Brockman told him, “Bud, I will work on this airplane until you are happy or broke.”
In 1969, he switched to three 600 hp Ag-Cats that were used for both spraying and fertilizing. He bought new Ag-Cats every year until he sold out to his son, Robert S. “Bobby” King in 1977.
Born and raised in Corsicana, Bud was an instructor pilot in the Army Air Force during WWII. He worked with primary students and later instructed in multi-engine aircraft, but never left the USA.
Bud buzzed Corsicana in a B-29 and later bailed out of one near Pyote in 1945 or 1946. The B-29 had gear problems, but landed all right. However, Bud broke his back in the parachute jump when he landed in a strong wind.
Bud was a witty and colorful man, who loved his wife Bertha, his son Bobby, his cats and his liquid spirits. I worked on the ground crew for him part-time from 1966-1969. He knew I wanted to fly, so he gave me my start in 1969. I had trained his son Bobby, for his Private, Commercial and CFI licenses. Bobby had started crop dusting in 1968. Bud told me he wanted to start me that year, but there was not enough whisky around to break in two pilots in one year!
Bud would say, “If you tear up one of my airplanes, I’ll cut your throat with a dull knife.” One of the hardest things I ever did was to drive over to the airstrip where he was working and tell him I flipped upside down one of his Ag-Cats. Luckily, he had started buying hull insurance that year. He didn’t cut my throat, but he continued to pound safety into my brain.
Some of his pilots were Jim Niday (the smoothest flying Stearman pilot that I ever saw…he looked like he was molded to the airplane), Richard Petco, Mike Ramsey, Dave Harvey, Bobby King (son), Marc Flanagan and myself.
Bud had heart problems and died at the age of 63 in 1982. I will always be thankful for his watchful eyes, his stern instructions, his criticisms and very few complements. As I look back, he knew what he was doing.
Ka-Brook Flying Service
Ernest Bishop was a local rice farmer who started Ka-Brook Flying Service in about 1961. His first aircraft was a red and silver 450 hp Stearman, but he soon switched to Ag-Cats. He was the first operator on the Katy Prairie to buy Ag-Cats. He had three at one time. He sold out to Millard Hixon in about 1968. I remember that Tex Mangum and Darryl Woods were two of his pilots. Ernest also flew.
Frank Fennen
Frank was an operator on the Katy Prairie more than once. After starting with Van Scroggins and flying for him several years, he went out on his own. He used an Ag-Cat, then a 600 hp Stearman and later a 600 hp Thrush. He went back to flying for Van Scroggins, then later for Carl Payne and Bobby King.
My first airplane ride was in a Cessna 172 in the spring of 1960 with Frank piloting it. In 1967, I soloed his two-holer Stearman.
Frank sat out of the crop dusting business for several years while he flew charter work for Joel Guinn and a twin for IMC, Inc. He went through flight controller school in Oklahoma City, but decided that was not for him. He even drove a taxicab in Houston for a couple of years. He started back crop dusting in the late 1980s or early 1990s for Bobby King. Frank was killed in an accident May 2000 near Garwood.
Jim Horn
Jim Horn started a crop dusting service on the Katy Prairie around 1966. He and Frank Fennen were partners with two 600 hp Thrushes. They split a year later.
Jim operated a couple of 600 hp Thrushes and a Callair for several years. He also flew in other areas of Texas. Jim did most of his ag flying and I was not familiar with any of his pilots.
Although Jim made his home in Katy, he had a dual citizenship, from the U.S.A. and Panama. He flew heavy, multi-engine cargo flights, did aerial surveys and charter flights. He ferried ag-planes from the U.S.A. to Central and South America.
Air Rice Inc.
The Cardiff family formed Air Rice. William “Bill” Cardiff was the operator. They were rice farmers on the west side of Katy who decided to go into the crop dusting business in 1969. They started with three 600 hp Ag-Cats, adding the fourth one for backup in 1971.
Some of their pilots were Tom Ancell, Rodney Young, Joel Smith, Frank Price, Carl Payne, Fred England, Olen Hoppgood, Lester Baber, Ed Hunt, Maurice Guesnel and myself. I flew their 750 hp turbo Ag-Cat about 40 hours at the end of the 1981 and 1982 seasons when their pilots went to work elsewhere.
To my knowledge, they were the first to put a PT6A-34 turboprop engine on an Ag-Cat. The project started in 1975 and was completed in 1976. Fred Frakes designed the conversion and Carl Payne was its test pilot. Fred England was the pilot for the second Turbo-Cat.
I have a 24” x 18” print of a watercolor done by Robert Carlin of Carl flying the Turbo Cat. It was signed by all that worked on the project. Before he passed away, Bill told his son, William, to give this print to me. Quoting from the writing on the top margin of the print…”The ‘Turbo-Cat’ achieved a number of firsts -- first turbo-prop agriculture bi-plane in the world, the first turbo-prop ag-plane to fly a full season on the American continents, working over the rice and soybean fields in the Katy, Texas area of the Texas Gulf Coast…”
Bill was president of the TAAA in 1982, the last year Air Rice was in business. After they closed the business, the original Air Rice airstrip was used for crop dusting by several of the nearby farmers. I flew the last ag-plane to work off of it in 2004. The airstrip was turned into a privately built, public use airport with a 5000-foot concrete runway, with plans to extend it to 7000 feet. The airport now has hangars and a terminal building. It was named “Houston Executive Airport”. What a change!
Millard’s Flying Service
Millard Hixon flew for Delta Dusting Co. in the 1960s, before he went to work for Van Scroggins. He left Van’s Katy Dusting Service around 1968 or 1969 to form Millard’s Flying Service. He bought Earnest Bishop’s Ag-Cats and later had three or four 600 hp Ag-Cats. Millard was the first on the Katy Prairie to buy the AT-300. He bought three of them. He later became the first operator in the Katy area to have a turboprop Thrush. He bought three PT6A-powered Thrushes and also had one Bull Thrush that Frank Fennen flew for him. We called it the “Blue Goose” because of its blue color.
Once I was flying one of Bobby King’s 600 hp A+ Ag-Cats using one of Millard’s best customer’s airstrip. I loaded my plane, then had about a load and a half of 21% fertilizer left to spread, about 3000 pounds. Millard landed and jumped on my wing to tell me he would take my last loads because he could get it all in just one load in his turboprop Thrush. Besides he said, he was waiting on his auger truck anyway. I told him the flaggers were on a 33-foot swath and I was putting out 120 pounds to the acre. I continued with finishing my load out, then headed for the next job. Not only did Millard have a heavy load and a narrow swath to work with, he also got the short rows! I got a big laugh out of that one and the next time I saw Millard, he just grinned and said, “You got me that time!”
Millard always tried to get me to fly for him but I never did. He had a heart attack and died on a June morning in 1982 at the age of only 48. His pilots included Dean Williams, Fred England, Joel Smith, Lester Baber, Frank Fennen, Bob Rawlings, Jack Lavern, Olen Hoppgood, Billy Wayne Mahaffey and John Pew.
Paul Harbiken
Paul did some flying on the Katy Prairie in the late 1960s or early 1970s. He had a 600 hp Snow C or D model that he flew for a year or two for himself and Millard Hixon.
King Air Service
Robert S. “Bobby” King bought out his dad’s (Bud King) Farm Air Service in 1977. Some of his pilots were Marc Flanagan, Bud King, Dave Harvey, Joel Smith, Mike Ramsey, Frank Fennen and myself. Bobby also flew.
There was a period in his younger years when he was probably the best ag-pilot on the Katy Prairie. He could push the limits of the 600 hp A+ Ag-Cat further than anyone I knew at that time. Yes, he dinged several Ag-Cats and props, but he never totaled one. If you were working with him, he would sometimes push you by shaving off a couple of seconds of his loads, somewhere in the air or on the ground. I never let it bother me when he had to circle every once in awhile to get back in sync.
There could be any combination of Marc Flanagan, Bobby or myself flying together with the odd man flying solo on busy days. Marc would go to fly over cotton in Mississippi in July and at times another pilot would help us out as needed.
In 1980, Bobby switched to two 600 hp B-Model Ag-Cats with a squared off 400-gallon hopper in them. Marc called them the “Spirit of St. Louis” since you could not see over the hopper until you got the tail up. When they were loaded, you had your hands full.
Due to personal problems, Bobby shut down at the end of the 1984 season when Marc and I both quit, but he cranked back up in 1988. He flew one Ag-Cat for a year and got Frank Fennen to fly the other Ag-Cat the next year. I went back to flying for him in the spring of 1991 through 1996.
In 1992, he rebuilt both Ag-Cats. He put a small, taller tail on them and had the hopper shaved off to make it more aerodynamic. It only cost about 20 gallons of hopper space, but it made the plane fly much better. When the airspeed indicator was working, it showed about 110 mph while fertilizing and 117 mph while spraying.
In 1995, Bobby installed the WAG GPS Flagging System in the Ag-Cats and we became high-tech flyers. We had differential problems every now and then, but otherwise the two-airplane program worked fine.
In the spring of 1997, Bobby decided to close his doors for good. He and I had flown together, off and on, for 22 years. Most of the time, he was a pleasure to be around, but sometimes he could make you want to crawl under a table. We flew hard, sometimes played hard and in later years, we occasionally prayed hard. My friend of 36 years died in a drowning accident in July 2001 at the age of 52. His mother, Bertha King (wife of Bud King), died two weeks later.
Katy Ag Planes
Pat Moore formed Katy Ag Planes about 1978 when he bought out Van Scroggins’ Katy Dusting Co. Pat had flown many years in the Pearland-Alvin area then came to Katy in 1969, flying for Van the next 10 years.
Pat started with two 600 hp Thrushes and later bought two AT-300s. He was an active member of the TAAA and served as president in 1990. He received the “Old Timer” award in 2000. Pat now lives near Pattison.
These pilots flew for Pat while he was in business: Johnny Varnell, Carl Payne, Dale Brown, Dave Corey, Pat Cullather, Marc Flanagan, Ray McMillian, Glen Williams, Dogie Stockmar.
Wright Flying Service
Don Wright started flying on the Katy Prairie in 1991 when Pat Moore sold his business. Don had a Garrett-powered Thrush that he flew. In 1996, Don left Katy when several of his rice-farming customers quit farming. I understand he is now flying near LaWard.
Payne Flying Service - Carl Payne
Carl Payne came to the Katy Prairie in 1974, where he crop dusted with Air Rice Inc. and worked on the “Turbo-Cat” project.
Carl flew F-86 Saber jets in the Air Force before starting his crop dusting flying in Pecos in 1958. He flew in parts of Texas including Corpus Christi for Dick Hale at Hale Dusting Service from 1968 through 1973.
While at Hale Dusting, Carl did the test flying for the brand-new turbine-powered Thrush that Ayres had built. Because of this, the Cardiff’s hired him to work for them at Air Rice from 1974 to 1978 and work on the “Turbo-Cat” project. After that, he worked for Pat Moore at Katy Ag Planes from 1979 through most of the 1980 season before starting Payne Flying Service where he was the operator through the 2000 season.
In 1981 and most of 1982, Carl operated from local rice farmer’s, Chester Jordan, airstrip near Brookshire. At the end of 1982, after the death of Millard Hixon, Carl moved to Millard’s old hangar, three miles northeast of Katy and later bought the property.
Some of the Payne Flying Service pilots were Carl Payne, Frank Fennen, Fred England, J.M. Lee, Ed Hunt, Ned Walker, Gerald Martin, Phillip Kitten, Roy Staley and myself. Harry Easley, Jim Folks and Bill Huebner from Bay City helped out when more airplanes were needed. Carla Payne, Carl’s wife, was the first lady crop duster on the Katy Prairie. I flew several fertilizer jobs with her in 1987.
When Carl started his business, he had two 600 hp Thrushes. He later went to 800 hp Thrushes. Carl told me he changed so many cylinders on those 800 hp engines, that he could change one while it was still running. About 1983, Carl added to the fleet a 350-gallon Air Tractor with a 580 hp turbine engine. Before the 1984 season started, he added an AT-400 with a 680 hp PT6A-15 engine. I began flying for Carl in October of 1984 and flew for him through the 1990 season. He bought a new AT-400 with a PT6A-34, 750 hp engine, in May of 1985.
Carl was a Confederate Air Force member and flew the P-51 Mustang “Red Nose” in many air shows. He made many aerial appearances in the Katy 4th of July celebrations. He was also one of the few pilots to fly the CAF’s Messerschmitt ME-109.
In 1991, Carl cut back to one airplane, an AT-503. He flew that aircraft until the introduction of the AT-802A, one of which he bought. In the spring of 1997, when Bobby King closed down, I went back to flying for Carl. We used two AT-802s that year. From 1998 to 2000, we would use an AT-802 on rice and leased an AT-502B for me to fly while Carl was on a contract or firefighting with the AT-802. At the end of the 1999 season, Carl had been talking to Joe Henderson about buying his AT-502A for me to fly while he used the AT-802 for firefighting. Unfortunately, Joe had a wing come off that airplane and was killed. A few weeks later, Carl leased an AT-602 from Grant Lane. I picked up the AT-602 from Grant on the morning of Sunday, May 7th only to receive a telephone call that same afternoon from Patti Payne that her father, Carl, had lost his life while firefighting in the Glass Mountains near Fort Stockton. Two weeks later, Frank Fennen was killed in an accident in Garwood. What a sad season! We lost three local pilots in just a few weeks’ time.
I learned many things during the 10 years I worked with Carl. We never had a cross word and we worked together well when we used two airplanes on a job. He could keep you laughing with his wit. One of his favorites would be on a foggy morning and we were both scheduled to fly, he would say, “Don, I think it’s good enough for you to go, but I’m gonna wait awhile.”
Once I was about to land on the strip after a 3-inch rain. There was some standing water and the strip was a little slick, but the wind was right down the runway. Carl’s call from the hangar radio, “Wait Don, I’m going to call Leroy.” Thank God, we did not need Leroy (Leroy had never seen a bad wreck).
Once I drove Carl’s pickup truck and trailer to Decatur where Carl was starting a firefighting contract. He raced me in the truck to DFW to catch an airliner back to Houston. I missed the last Southwest 737, so be bought me a ticket for the last flight that night which was on a turboprop American Airlines Embraer. Carl knew I did not like that airplane, so on the way downstairs to the loading dock, just before he went to his truck he said, “Don, if you don’t make it to Houston, can I have your M1 carbine?” Very funny…
After Carl’s accident, I finished the 2000 season and Patti Payne started operating in 2001.
Payne Flying Service - Patti Payne
Patti Payne was an operator from 2001 through the 2007 season. I was her pilot for those seven years. Marc Flanagan also flew a few jobs for her during that period. She used an AT-602 for the 2001 season and switched to an AT-502B for the remaining years..
Patti had helped her dad, Carl Payne, for many years with scheduling, flagging, parts runner, fill-in auger truck driver, spray loader and was business manager while Carl was gone on contract work. She wore many hats while running Payne Flying Service for seven years, adding mechanic, forklift driver, chemical loader and handler and sales person to the list.
Patti found time for being a grandma and serving as president of the Texas AAA in 2005. She was the first woman to hold that position since the formation of the TAAA in 1951. She was a very dedicated person who gave many hours of her time to the TAAA. I know Carl would be proud of her for that endeavor.
Near the end of the 2007 season, due to economic reasons, Patti closed the doors of the last locally based ag-flying service on the Katy Texas Prairie.
Lane Aviation
Over the years, the Lane’s have been flying in parts of this area. George Lane started his dusting business over 50 years ago. It is now operated by his son, Grant, and is based in Rosenberg.
Some of his pilots who flew in the Katy Prairie area are George Lane, Grant Lane, Mark Lane, Rainer Kern, Roy Staley, Mel Chynoweth, Doyle Coor and Loren Dannhaus.
Double L Flying Service
Owner Lowell Hicks and pilot David Kramr do some flying in the Katy area. Lowell is based out of East Bernard.
Today on the katy prairie
Due to the urban sprawl of houses from the Houston and the economics of growing rice, the Katy Prairie rice growing area is fading fast. The only area left now is between Katy and Brookshire, along both sides of I-10, extending about two miles south of I-10 and seven miles north of I-10 and a small area near Hockley.
I cannot help but think about the thousands of acres of land taken out of rice production and put into commercial or housing developments. This land will never have another crop on it again. Really, how often do you see bulldozers leveling houses and buildings just to plant crops?
I shall always be thankful to God for keeping me safe and giving me the ability to fly ag, the “old” Stearman pilots of the 1950s, George Jobs and his hammerhead turns, Frank Fennen for giving me my first airplane ride, my flight instructor Steve Cummings for his patience and teaching me how to land, Bud King for breaking me in and to Carl Payne for turbanizing me from the AT-400 through the AT-802. Last, but not least, I am thankful for my wife of 37 years, Helen, and daughter, Regina, who stood by and put up with me all these years.
When you are out there doing your “aerial ballet”, you never know who is watching or what persons or youngsters may be influenced by your flying, as I was while watching George Jobs. Fly your best and be professional about it.
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