Pioneered The Use Of Helicopters In Aerial Applications

Dr. Carrol Voss, the founder of AGROTORS, Inc., and a pioneer in the use of helicopters in aerial application, died on June 10 at his home in Maine. He was 92 years old.

Voss was born in February 1920, the son of German immigrants. During his early years, he helped with his father's farm in Nebraska where they raised sugar beets, corn, and alfalfa. In an interview with HAI's ROTOR magazine in 2006, he recalled seeing the skies turn dark during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s.

Voss became interested in aviation while attending Alfalfa Center High School, carving model airplanes and reading about flying. He took his first flight in a Curtiss Jenny biplane from a pasture and recalled seeing Amelia Earhart fly over his farm in a Pitcairn autogyro during her 1931 coast-to-coast tour.

Out of high school, Voss received a Sears Roebuck and Company scholarship to attend Agriculture College at the University of Nebraska in 1941, majoring in entomology. He then attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, focusing on pest control.

World War II interrupted his studies and Voss joined the Navy Air Corps, serving as a flight instructor for PBY and PBM "flying boats." He met his wife, Wilma "Jo," who was also in the Navy at the time, and they married in 1945.

Voss continued his education and interests in entomology and aviation following the war, earning a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin. After reading an interview with Lawrence Bell and hearing of a demonstration of crop-dusting by Joe Mashman using flour and a Bell Model 30, he became intrigued by the use of helicopters for agricultural work.

In the late 1940s, Voss received his helicopter pilot's license and started working in the industry. After nearly a decade of working with helicopters and agriculture, he started his own company, AGROTORS, Inc., in 1958. The company became a leader in aerial application operations, later opening a flight school in the mid-1960s.

Voss served as a consultant with the World Health Organization, helping to establish aerial application programs for insect infestations in Africa. He was also a consultant for agricultural spraying in India, the USSR, and South America.

Voss began working with HAI In 1953 when it was still Helicopter Association of America (HAA). He was active in the Agriculture Committee and helped to produce a safety video about flying the wire and obstruction environment. His son, Tim, who was also active in HAI, took over AGROTORS when the elder Voss retired in 1985.

Voss is the recipient of the Twirly Birds Les Morris Award (1995) and HAI's Lawrence Bell Lifetime Achievement Award (2001). AGROTORS also received HAI's Sikorsky Humanitarian Service Award (2000) for assisting with mosquito eradication in New York.

Voss and his wife were married for more than 70 years, raising four children. Earlier this year, he was presented with the Boston Post Cane, honoring him as the oldest resident of Bristol, Maine.

(Source: HAI news release. Image from file)

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