Marlman Flying Girder
The Marlman Flying Girder was a low-cost American cropduster developed in the 1950s.
Design and development
The Flying Girder was the project of William A. Marlman, who was based in Las Animas, Colorado. A 1955 newspaper report detailed that Marlman had designed an agricultural aircraft, referred to the "Pack Air", and that it was currently under construction. If the aircraft proved successful, Marlman planned to establish a factory at Las Animas in order to produce them.Two aluminum channels, in length, were bolted together to form a single box-section beam that formed the basis of the design. A Lycoming engine, driving a tractor propeller, was fitted to the foremost point of the box beam. Positioned behind the engine was a simple slab-sided enclosed fuselage. The aircraft had a constant chord rectangular wing planform, with no dihedral. The wings featured full-span flaps, and endplates fitted to the wingtips. A conventional tailplane and tailfin were located at the aftmost point of the box beam. The Flying Girder was fitted with a fixed conventional undercarriage.
To cater to its intended function as an agricultural aircraft, it was designed to spread both dust and sprays. A hopper was incorporated into the rear of the fuselage, and tanks were built into the wings.