Fred Ayres, an agricultural aircraft operator in the USA, commenced production in 1979 of a version of the Thrush Commander powered by a Pratt & Whitney PT-6 turboprop.

This series of agricultural aircraft has been developed from the first S-2 designed and developed by Leland Snow in 1956 and initially built by Snow Aeronautical.

In late 1977 the Ayres Corporation of Albany, Georgia, purchased the manufacturing and world marketing rights to the Rockwell Thrush Commander 600 and 800 series of agricultural aircraft, and subsequently developed this popular series of aircraft to meet customer requirements, with a range of aircraft available varying in the power