Thanks for posting that Rural as I had never seen that plane. Looks like quite the workhorse and is earning it's keep.
This is a development of the FU-24 "Fletcher" topdressing plane. But let's start at the beginning....
John Thorp was born in 1912 in California, educated at the Boeing School of Aeronautics and subsequently worked for Boeing. As well as working for Boeing he also designed planes for himself (most notably, the home built t-18) and others. One of these was the FU-25 for the Fletcher Aviation Corporation in Pasadena, a prototype ground attack aircraft that the military didn't buy.
At the time New Zealand top dressing operators were in the U.S. seeking a replacement for war surplus De Havilland Tiger Moths which formed the backbone of the industry. Thorp and Wendell Fletcher incorporated many elements of the Defender into a new design, the FU-24. A group of New Zealand top dressing operators gathered a hundred options for the design off the drawing board, and founded a company, Air Parts, to assemble the type in New Zealand, while a New Zealand farming company, Cable Price Corporation, funded the construction of two prototypes in the US.
The first prototype FU-24 flew in June 1954 in the US, then was disassembled for shipment to New Zealand, together with the (unflown) second prototype. The original prototype had a 225 hp engine and open cockpit. Prior to production commencing, this design was altered to add an enclosed cockpit and more powerful 260 to 310 hp Continental engines.
Original open cockpit FU-24
The next 70 aircraft were delivered to NZ in kit form and assembled at Hamilton airport. From 1961 full production was undertaken locally, by Air Parts. After the 257th aircraft the engine was changed to a 400 hp Lycoming IO-720 horizontally-opposed eight-cylinder engine and over a hundred earlier aircraft were re-built and re-engined by the factory.
400hp FU-24
By the late 1960's operators were experimenting with fitting turbine engines to some Fletchers, with P&W PT6, Garrett and Walter turbines being popular.
Walter turbine Fletcher, note twin main wheels
In the mid 1970's Air Parts had gone through several incarnations and was now Pacific Aerospace Corporation (PAC). They decided that the 400hp Fletcher had reached the limits of redevelopment and introduced the larger and stronger PAC Cresco. Although they look similar they share very few components.
The first ten Cresco were powered by a 600hp Lycoming LTP 101 turbine, then until 1992, a 600hp Pratt and Whitney PT-6. From 1992 the more powerful 750hp PT-6 was fitted. Initially built as topdressing aircraft they soon found favour with skydiving companies being able to carry nine skydives with a fast rate of climb, around 1,500 ft/min.
In 2001 PAC launched the PAC P-750 XSTOL (initially called the PAC 750XL) that combined the engine and wings of the PAC Cresco with a new large fuselage and modified tail. This was aimed directly at the skydiving market with the larger fuselage able to carry 17 skydivers. With the Cresco high lift wings and plenty of power it can take a load of parachutists to 12,000 feet (3,700 m) and return to land in 10 minutes. A wider market was subsequently sought, and examples have been sold for use in utility roles, including freight, agricultural applications, passenger operations, aerial photography and surveying. Twelve aircraft have now been extensively modified for geo-survey work, being fitted with a magnetic anomaly detector sting tail.
There are currently 23 750XLs registered in the US (no Fletcher's or Crescos).
MAD equiped 750XL