LZB241 —

Developed by a committee, comes to mind.

Function over form. Start with a crop duster and add floats.
A local company here in MN makes the floats. I've seen them on the St. Croix River scooping up water and then dumping a minute later. Always assumed it was either training or testing.

Its a beautiful plane when you consider what it was designed for, committee or not. Would love to own one, but they are not cheap.

Motorized Praying Mantis??

Steve..I had the same reaction...
A Giant robotic praying mantis.

Crop dusting, fire fighting, glider towing. It does it all (except letting you take your girlfriend for a ride . . .)

Leave the girlfriend home - That would be an awesome RIDE! 🤩😎👍

Leave your girlfriend home - that would be an awesome ride! 🤩😎

Developed by a committee!? Like books, purpose-built aircraft may not win beauty prizes, but be excellent in their intended roles. Do not underestimate the folks in Olney.

Strange to see such a small plane with such large floats: if used as a water bomber, how much water can it carry? More than a bucket's worth?

The Fire Boss combines an established AG plane, the Air Tractor AT-802F with the reliable PT-6A-67F engine and the Wipline 10000 amphibious floats.

It has the ability to scoop water of up to 800 gallons on the fly at any nearby lake or river and drop repeatedly for up to 10,000 gallons per hour. Being smaller and slower than many of the larger water bombers it can drop in tighter areas with more accuracy. It also has fuselage tanks for foam or retardant, and also comes with a two seat version for an observer.

It may look funny to some but it serves a useful purpose that other planes can't do, and with less operating cost.