Frank Ament was a graduate of Parks Aeronautical College, had served as a maintenance supervisor at the USAAF Contract School at Cape Girardeau, MO during WW2 and in the same position with the now defunct American Export Airline in New York.  He was a talented aircraft and engine mechanic and a FAA Designated Aircraft Maintenance Inspector (DAMI) who performed the required maintenance and periodic inspections on his own airplanes plus many of the other aircraft in the region.  As time went on he also built a significant business in new and used aircraft sales.

The maintenance shop was always busy and normally had a sizable backlog.  Frank Ament was a personable, friendly, dependable guy and a meticulous aircraft and engine mechanic who folks knew they could depend on to do the job right.  When I was not busy with flying or flying related activity I worked alongside Frank in the shop and over time completed the requirements for my aircraft and engine mechanics license under Frank’s direction and supervision.  We not only maintained our own fleet of training airplanes, but also had numerous area customers who had all of their maintenance including their annual inspections handled at the Sandwich Airport.  And, often we would have an aircraft restoration project under way as a fill-in project if other work slowed down.  The pictures above show the results of one of our Stearman restoration projects.  At that time there was a considerable demand for war surplus Stearman PT-17's for the crop dusting and spraying market and this is one of the airplanes we reworked for that market.    

Much of the crop spraying in northern Illinois during this period involved the use of DDT pesticide to rid the corn crops of the dreaded corn borer.  This was long before the controversial banning of DDT in 1972.  Many small airports had at least one airplane equipped for crop spraying to help the local farmers control this problem.  The Sandwich airport was no exception.  A local farm supply store contracted with area farmers to handle their crop spraying requirements and we would apply the DDT solution from the air.  We had both a Piper J-3 and a Stearman equipped for crop spraying.  In each case the planes normal second seat was replaced with a large tank to contain the DDT solution.  Long booms extended out under each wing with spray nozzles evenly spaced along the length of the booms.  A wind driven pump forced the solution from the tank into the booms, under pressure, to be emitted from the nozzles in a uniform spray that covered a wide swath behind the plane as it flew low over the crop.  Flag men on the ground paced off the the necessary distance between each pass to ascertain that the entire field was covered uniformly.  Most of the spraying was done in the early morning or late evening hours when the winds were light in order to avoid having the pesticide carried into unintended areas.  The equipment and methods used then were primitive compared to today’s custom built, GPS directed crop sprayers but we got the job done.