UNITED STATES
LOW & SLOW
Mabry I. Anderson An Insider’s History of Agricultural Aviation
The Move Westward — Chapter Three continued…
Rio Grande Valley Stearman in 1955 equipped with four ICD rotors on demonstration flight.
B 18 | agairupdate.com
Another legendary early Westerner was the late C.T. “Red” Jensen, stellar pupil of Rhodes and Irving. Irving was Jensen’s first instructor. Red began hanging around airports as a small boy and was said to have made a parachute jump at 14, when General Billy Mitchell dedicated the Colusa Airport. Jensen did some agricultural flying for Rhodes and Irving about 1928 or 1929. In 1930 he formed his own firm, Jensen Dusting and Planting Company, at the old Sacramento airport. He bought property adjacent to the airport and eventually developed his own field there. He fought a continuous battle with City Hall, but finally won the fight. Jensen was one of the first operators to engage heavily in sulphur dusting. Sulphur was a specific control for mites and aphids, especially in truck crops. He began applying it routinely, which was a hazardous procedure. Several aircraft had burned in the South due to the low flash point of diffused sulphur, where a spark, or even very hot air temperatures, could set it off. During his long career, Jensen landed burning aircraft on five
occasions, twice with his clothes on fire! He was never seriously hurt. Jensen had a knack for inventiveness and contributed significantly to the development of better equipment and techniques. After World War II, he modified the belly of the TBM torpedo bomber to carry borate for fire fighting. He also helped pioneer the use of helicopters in the agricultural flying field. Some of his improvements and modifications on the Allouette bear his name. Red Jensen was a controversial man. People either loved him or hated him, never in-between. He never dodged a fight for what he believed to be right and he usually came out on top. During his lifetime, he collected hundreds of friends and quite a few enemies, along with dozens of vintage aircraft, including Travel-Airs, Stearmans, N3Ns, Wacos, TBMs, and helicopters. These aircraft were sold at auction after his death and the sale drew hundreds of hopeful customers. Jensen was reputed to have logged over 23,000 hours of actual agricultural flying time before he quit logging entirely in 1965. He was always interested in the progress of the industry. He ➤
