UNITED STATES
TWENTY YEARS AGO
Three Thrush in Northern Argentina by Bill Lavender
Luis A. Curá Fumigaciones Aéreas’ Turbo Thrush is flying over Ingenio Ledesma’s sugar cane fields using CP Nozzles close to Oran, Argentina.
B 32 | agairupdate.com
ORAN, ARGENTINA — It is quite a distance to travel in Argentina from Bahia Blanca north to Oran; it is best if traveled by air line. Even so, it took all day, of course the late departure due to fog in Bahia Blanca was the main reason. With an overnight stop in Salta and an interesting drive to Oran in a rental car, I was finally able to meet my friend Luis Curá of Luis A. Curá Fumigaciones Aéreas. When I told Luis that I would only be able to stay for a few hours, I could see the disappointment in his eyes. Luis had invited me to visit him when I first started traveling to Argentina several years ago. Until now, I had not been able to make the long trip north to Oran. Even so, I was
still not able to stay as long as Luis would have liked. But, all the same, he was a gracious host during my short visit. Luis Curá began ag flying when he was 20 years old. After two decades, in 1991, he bought the company he had been flying with from José Martin and formed Luis A. Curá Fumigaciones Aéreas in Oran. The company had two Argentinean-built Pawnees. In 1993, Luis added a third Pawnee. His company had begun to fly over cotton and was becoming very busy. Cotton was new to the region, only being introduced in 1993. Before, the major crops were cane, soybeans and corn. Work for the company began expanding at a rapid rate. “It was crazy,” says Luis, from so much work from the ➤
