The Aviation Lecture Series has long been a favorite for many locals and those from surrounding areas.  This year the series has moved to the Hayner Center in downtown Troy to better accommodate the space needs of the program. WACO’s own David Bucher will discuss the fine art and history of crop dusting on February 22nd at 7:00 PM. In addition to the history, some of his own interesting stories and experiences will be told by Dave, who used to fly all day at 120 miles per hour at only 10 feet off the ground as a crop duster.

A native of Tennessee, David moved to Ohio in 1981 with the opening of the Emery Superhub at the Dayton International Airport. After spending 40-plus years in the air cargo industry he retired in 2022 from Air Transport Service Group in Wilmington OH. Over the years he was involved in both flight and aircraft maintenance operations of transport-size aircraft. Before moving to cargo, David completed a course for aerial application and commercial pilot at Johnny Dorr’s school in Merigold MS. That led to him spending 3 years as an aerial applicator in Sunflower MS where he acquired over 1200 flight hours in the Cessna Ag Truck and Grumman Ag Cat applying chemicals to mostly rice and cotton crops. Today he spends several weeks each year at an ag airstrip where he flies and works on a collection of restored ag aircraft that includes Stearmans, an AgCat, and a Piper Pawnee among a collection of other tailwheel aircraft such as a North American T6. David holds with the FAA a Commercial Pilot, Single and Multi-Engine Land, Instrument, Airframe, and Powerplant Mechanic with Inspection Authorization and Turbojet Flight Engineer. He is a graduate of Belmont University, Nashville Tennessee with a Bachelor of Business Administration and Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion Indiana with a Master of Business Administration. David has been a Trustee of Waco Historical since 1997 and served in the past as President.

All aviation lectures are free and open to the public and are held at Troy Hayner Cultural Center in Troy, OH. Donations to the WACO Air Museum are gratefully accepted. Programs are scheduled to last one hour, beginning at 7 p.m., with questions to follow.  All lectures are sponsored in part by Collins Aerospace. For questions, please call 937-335-9226 or visit www.wacoairmuseum.org