The World’s Best Bush Plane Is Made In Wyoming
A bush pilot likes to land out where there aren't any paved runways.
Mountaintops included.
Wyoming is one of those states that is just perfect for this kind of adventure.
One of the most famous bush planes in the world is made in Afton, Wyoming.
The Aviat company makes, among other planes, the Husky!
The Husky, like the Alaskan Dog by the same name.
These planes are all about flying with friends to remote locations and landing in impossible places to camp, fish, and hike.
Todd Christensen, Husky Sales Rep from Alaska, talks about how he has been flying the Husky for just over a year.
In the video, he highlights how it excels when flying short take-offs/landings (STOL).
He talks airspeed, braking, landing short, and about the joys of being a bush pilot and STOL pilot.
Arguably the best place to do that is the one made in the rugged mountains of Wyoming.
He is a big fan of the Husky.
As you watch the video above you be amazed as to how slow these pilots can fly their planes and how little distance they need to take off and land.
Pilots love these planes.
But you better have deep pockets to buy one and keep it running.
On average they run just under half a million dollars brand new.
These planes are not fast.
They cannot carry a lot of weight.
The point is to be able to get into places that most people can't.
Watch the next video to learn more about the company that builds this great Wyoming airplane.
Before Husky came along, Afton had another airplane manufacturer.
That pane is no longer being built and the company is gone, but there is a museum in Afton, celebrating the company and the plane.
Located at the Civic Center in Afton, Wyoming, the CallAir Museum commemorates the history of the Call Aircraft Factory founded in 1939 by Reuel Call. CallAir airplanes were designed, developed, and manufactured at Afton from about 1940 to 1970.
A prototype airplane was designed and built from 1939 to 1943—the predecessor of the CallAir A-3 cabin plane. In the first years of the 1950s CallAir snow cars were built.
By 1955 the A-3 had been converted to an agricultural spray plane—the CallAir A-5. In the early 1960s the CallAir A-9, a larger more powerful version of the A-5, was put into production, followed by the still larger CallAir B-1 in 1968.
The original home of the museum was a large hangar building located south of Afton. The building was completed in about 1994.
Vintage CallAir A-3 and A-5 airplanes were restored at about that time.
A CallAir B-1 was subsequently acquired and restored.
General historical information was gathered, and a picture gallery of personalities associated with the Call Aircraft Factory was created.
In 2005 the museum moved to its current home in the Afton Civic Center prominently located on North Main Street fronting the Lincoln County Fair Grounds.
In these videos, you'll see both top and bottom-wing airplanes. Some were built for work, like crop dusting, and some were general aviation planes.
Although those planes were built a long time ago they were so well built that many are still in service today.
The Civic Center is jointly owned by Lincoln County and the Town of Afton. William Call is the president of the Foundation. Glen Call is the Tour Guide Coordinator at the Museum. For tours you can call Glenn Call at 307-885-3995 or 307-413-5198 during daylight hours, Mountain Time.
To find out more about the company and their planes, visit the museum website at this link.
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