M & M Air Service in Beaumont, Texas, was founded in 1946 by George Fields Mitchell Sr. and N.W. “Poley” Mitchell. George Mitchell Jr. took ownership of the business in 1966 and continues to run it to this day at age 78. In his book “Low & Slow,” historian Mabry Anderson described M & M Air Service as “one of the most influential ag flying firms ever to be organized,” and rightly so, given its standing as one of the largest independently owned ag aviation operations in the world. When George Jr. took over, M & M owned 33 Stearman ag planes that worked across five states. Recently, George’s son Andy Mitchell posted a treasure trove of vintage footage of M & M Air Service from the 1940s and early ’50s on YouTube. Mary Addie Mitchell, Andy’s grandmother and George’s mother, filmed the silent video, which is available below.

The footage is a mix of black and white and color footage. Highlights of the video include plenty of Stearman flights and spray passes, including footage of the first successful seeding of rice by air in Texas on April 9, 1946, when pilot K.W. “Kinky” Shane seeded a 90-acre field in a 220 horsepower Stearman with a 700-pound capacity hopper.

In some respects, these slices of ag aviation history represent remnants of a bygone era replete with open-cockpit ag planes and human flaggers lining up spray passes, and yet the aerial application work highlighted in the vintage video remains remarkably similar to how M & M Air Service operates today. “We’re basically doing the same thing we’ve been doing for 72 years,” operator and 1973 NAAA President George Mitchell told the NAAA eNewsletter. “My family pioneered what you see in the old videos. We still land on unfarmed air strips. We still load with support equipment.”

Mitchell added, “There are a lot of things that have changed, and I have witnessed all of those changes.” Those changes have included dramatic changes to the size and scope of M & M’s airplane fleet, along with the introduction of technological advances such as GPS and flow control that have revolutionized the aerial application industry.

Between the 22 and 24-minute mark of M &M’s historical footage, there are great views of the company’s Stearman fleet lined up. Those Stearmans were mostly flown by former WWII pilots. Over time, M & M’s fleet morphed from 33 Stearmans to 19 round engine, A-model Ag-Cats. From there, Mitchell says, the company switched to eight turbine-powered Air Tractor 400s. The AT-400s later became a mix of AT-502s and 602s (as many as 10 such planes at one point). Today, M & M’s fleet consists of five owned and three leased AT-802s. “These eight airplanes will do more than the 33 I had when I took over in November of 1966,” he said.

Mitchell is a second-generation ag pilot. Andy and his siblings represent the third generation, and George says the fourth generation is in progress of getting into the business. All four of George’s adult children work for M & M, and he feels very fortunate to have maintained an aerial application company that has enabled him to keep his family unit intact. “If I hadn’t diversified in the ’90s, I probably wouldn’t be here today, and I certainly wouldn’t be here with all of my family on board,” he says.

In addition to row crop applications, M & M’s diversification includes wildland fire suppression and brush spraying during summertime and fertilizing trees in the winter. “We’re doing half a dozen different things with these airplanes.”

“I’ve seen a lot of changes in the industry. It’s been up and down with government programs and world commodity prices. But the industry has matured,” Mitchell mused. “I wonder where we’re going from here.”

100th Anniversary: History in the Making