thumb|An AT-502B on the ramp at [[Belle Glade State Municipal Airport|Belle Glade Airport]]
thumb|A two-seat AT-802 in [[Missoula, Montana]]
thumb|A firefighting AT-802F Air Boss at [[Miramichi Airport]]
thumb|A [[counter-insurgency AT-802U at the Paris Air Show]]
Air Tractor Inc. is a United States aircraft manufacturer based in Olney, Texas. Founded in 1974, the company began manufacturing a new agricultural aircraft derived from the S-2B aircraft (designed by founder Leland Snow's previous company, Snow Aeronautical). Designated Model AT-300 Air Tractor, the new aircraft first flew in 1973.
History
Leland Snow began designing his first airplane, the S-1, in 1951. The 23-year-old Snow completed test flights with the S-1 in 1953. Snow's S-1 flew dusting and spraying jobs in the Texas Rio Grande Valley and in Nicaragua until 1957. He followed up the S-1 with the models S-2A, S-2B and S-2C (now the Ayres Thrush), which were produced in Olney, Texas from 1958.
In 1965, Leland Snow sold his company to Rockwell-Standard and was appointed a vice president of the Aero Commander division. During this time, the Model S-2R was developed and named the Thrush. The first 100 Thrush aircraft were built at the Olney Division before the plant was closed and Thrush production moved to Georgia in 1970. More than 500 aircraft were produced under Snow Aeronautical Corporation and Rockwell-Standard in Olney.
From 2011 through 2018, Air Tractor consistently delivered more turboprop-powered fixed wing aircraft than any other manufacturer; of 601 total worldwide general aviation turboprop deliveries in 2018, 141 (23%) were Air Tractors. Now (2024), even the entry level agricultural plane AT-402B is available only with turbine engine.
On July 1, 2008 Air Tractor, Inc. became an employee-owned company with the establishment of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan.