A very proud past. A very bright future.

North American Rockwell, the predecessor to Ayres Corporation, was conceived in 1965, when North American Rockwell purchased the product line of Snow Aeronautical. Rockwell put its world-renowned engineering and manufacturing skills to work, and the results were pretty amazing. The first Rockwell ag plane was test flown in 1966. Even though it carried only a 400-gallon hopper, this aircraft launched a long and colorful history of crop dusting and helped lead the migration of the agricultural aviation industry to larger hoppers and more powerful engines. North American Rockwell continued to produce its 400-gallon aircraft in Olney, Texas, until March 1970 when it moved the entire product line to Albany, Georgia. The 400 continued to be an aircraft that was very much in demand, and Rockwell increased the production rate in late 1973 to one airplane per day. In 1977 Rockwell sold the production rights for their agricultural aircraft to Ayres Corporation.

Thrush Aircraft, Inc. acquired the production rights for the Ayres product line in June 2003. Our headquarters and production facility are located in Albany, Georgia, where we occupy a 227,000 square foot office/manufacturing complex. Our factory is equipped with a full complement of sophisticated machinery including water jet, laser cutter, CNC brake, CNC machining centers, turning centers, roll form, hydro form, punch presses, heat treat, age, chemical treat processing, and much more. Our veteran labor force has aerial agriculture experience dating back to the mid-1960s, including all phases of design, tooling production, planning, product manufacturing, product support, and customer service.

Ayres Corporation, and now Thrush Aircraft, have a history of creating industry “firsts.” From certifying the first turbine-powered agricultural aircraft, to designing, certifying and building the first dual cockpit, dual control agricultural aircraft. Both of these innovations have saved countless lives in the crop dusting industry and made our customers incredibly more productive as well.

Since 1966, more than 3,000 Thrush aircraft have been delivered. The current worldwide fleet now numbers over 2,200 aircraft, including more than 1,500 that are turbine-powered. We operate in more than 80 countries, performing a variety of missions beyond traditional crop protection, chemical application and fertilization including: sowing rice, feeding shrimp, applying oil dispersants, top dressing timber, fire bombing, herbicide application, mosquito control, pesticide application, and special operations relating to drug eradication and surveillance. Major Thrush operators include such familiar names as: Dole Fresh Fruit, Del Monte Fresh Fruit, Aerovic, FumiPalma, as well as many governments around the world.

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Real world experience, real time capabilities.

Thrush Aircraft has a well-rounded management team with a wealth of experience in all areas of manufacturing. We operate under the FAA-approved Production Certificate 5S0 and meet Mil-I-45208 inspection system requirements, Mil-Q-9858A quality system requirements and Mil-Standard-45662 calibration system requirements. The management team, along with a skilled employee base, have designed, manufactured, and operated ag airplanes for 30 years. We have a full complement of support personnel for planning, purchasing, subcontract coordination, engineering, and product support.

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