. Cranberries; : the national cranberry magazine. Cranberries. Not for Little Men With Pointed Ears If you happen to see this unidentified flying object hovering about a foot over a New Jersey cranberry bog next summer, it win probably be piloted by a Princeton research engineer. The university's Advanced Flight Concepts Labora- Looking like something out of a science fiction movie, the aircraft pictured will be seen more and more as time goes by, particu- larly in tlie area of the New Jersey cranberry bogs. It is a crop spraying aircraft called the Ag-GEM 1. It is designed to fly only about o
. Cranberries; : the national cranberry magazine. Cranberries. Not for Little Men With Pointed Ears If you happen to see this unidentified flying object hovering about a foot over a New Jersey cranberry bog next summer, it win probably be piloted by a Princeton research engineer. The university's Advanced Flight Concepts Labora- Looking like something out of a science fiction movie, the aircraft pictured will be seen more and more as time goes by, particu- larly in tlie area of the New Jersey cranberry bogs. It is a crop spraying aircraft called the Ag-GEM 1. It is designed to fly only about one foot off the ground as it deposits spray on growing crops. It has been proving itself during experimental spraying of cranberry bogs in New Jersey and, althougli control of fruit rat was not equal to that possible with conventional boom spraying, it has shown itself to be about as effective as airplanes or helicopters. The airborne vehicle is not now in commercial production but it is hoped that further improvements and modifications will prove that it can be commercially produced. The cost of the experimental proto- type was placed at approximately $23,000. Manufacturers have stated tory has been collaborating with plant pathologists at Rutgers in testing the effectiveness of the Ag-GEM (which is the name of the craft shown above) for spraying crops. (See story Page 6C) that they feel Ag-GEM can be produced at a cost considerably less than an airplane equipped to do the same job. The principle of Ag-GEM is not new. This type of vehicle has been designed and built since the 1950's. It becomes airborne by a blast of air which develops a cushion of air under the machine. Princeton Uni- versity has long been considering the use of this type of vehicle in agricultural applications. As early as 1964, Princeton's largest GEM made a series of flights over full-grown potato fields to test the extent of damage caused by the vehicle's downwash of air. The next logical step seemed to b
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