The rapid expansion of Piper's operations in the 1950s meant that new facilities were soon required, and in 1957 the company opened a new aircraft development centre at Vero Beach, Florida, to be responsible for design, development and testing of new projects. The Vero Beach facility began its operations on a new specialised agricultural aircraft, designated Piper PA-25 Pawnee, for experience with the PA-18A configured for agricultural use had shown the active market for this category of aeroplane. A braced low-wing monoplane with fixed tailwheel landing gear, the PA-25 was powered initially by a 112kW Avco Lycoming O-320 flat-four engine, and this version was later redesignated PA-25-150 Pawnee. It had a glass-fibre chemical hopper installed forward of the cockpit, this having a volume of 0.57m³, and the dust/spray distribution system was the same as that which had been proven on the PA-18A. Advanced design features were intended to reduce the likelihood of an accident and to give the pilot a far better chance of survival in a crash; thus he was given a high sitting position to ensure an excellent all-round view, above average strength seat restraints, and a specially designed structure that was installed to leave the cockpit substantially undamaged in the usual type of low-speed crash associated with agricultural dusting/spraying oprations. Such attention to detail resulted in good sales figures, the PA-25-150 soon followed by the improved PA-25-235 with structural strengthening, a larger chemical hopper and a 175kW Avco Lycoming O-540-B2B5 engine, or optional 194kW O-540-E. When production of the Pawnee ended in early 1982 approximately 5,000 had been built.

3-View

A three-view drawing (1746 x 858)