The Transavia AirTruk, a bizarre-looking agricultural aircraft, emerged from a unique collaboration between Australian and New Zealand aviation pioneers. Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah radial engines powered this unusual design, which prioritized payload capacity over aesthetics. Its genesis began in New Zealand's mid-1950s cropdusting crisis, where aging Tiger Moths and Austers needed replacement. 41-foot wingspan and a steel barrel-shaped tank formed its core, allowing operators to fill hoppers mid-flight. The PL-7 prototype, developed by Luigi Pellarini, featured twin tail booms enabling ground crew access while engines ran.

Despite a successful first flight in 1956, financing collapsed after a 1958 hangar fire. New Zealand's Bennett Aircraft later adapted the PL-7 into the monoplane PL-11 Airtruck, though bureaucratic delays killed the project. Pellarini returned to Australia to design the PL-12 AirTruk, a sesquiplane with a Continental engine and crew cabin. Transavia Corporation launched production in 1965, shipping demonstrators to Southeast Asia and Europe.

Pilot Sam Richards recalls the cramped, noisy cabin experience, yet operators like Ian Bell praised its rugged performance for remote Australian fields.