Piper Cub

The Piper J3 Cub is a small, simple, light aircraft that was built between 1937 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. With tandem (fore and aft) seating, it was intended for flight training but became one of the most popular and best known light aircraft of all time. The Cub's simplicity, affordability and popularity invokes comparisons to the Ford Model T automobile. Its standard yellow paint has come to be known as "Cub Yellow" or "Lock Haven Yellow."

The Taylor E2 Cub first appeared in 1930, built by Taylor Aircraft in Bradford, Pennsylvania. Sponsored by William T. Piper, a Bradford industrialist who had invested in the company, the E2 was meant to be an affordable aircraft that would encourage interest in aviation. Later in 1930, the company went bankrupt, with Piper buying the assets but keeping founder C. Gilbert Taylor on as president. In 1936, an earlier Cub was altered by employee Walter Jamouneau to become the J2 while Taylor was on sick leave. (The coincidence led some to believe that the "J" stood for Jamonoueau, while aviation historian Peter Bowers concluded that the letter simply followed the E, F, G, and H models, with the I omitted because it could be mistaken for the numeral one). When he saw the redesign, Taylor was so incensed that he fired Jamouneau. Piper, however, had encouraged Jamouneau's changes, and hired him back. Piper then bought Taylor's share in the company, paying him US $250 per month for three years.

Although sales were initially slow, about 1,200 J2s were produced before a fire in the Piper factory ended its production in 1938. After Piper moved his company from Bradford to Lock Haven, the J3, which featured further changes by Jamouneau, replaced the J2. Powered by a 40 hp (30 kW) engine, in 1938, it sold for just over $1,000.

The outbreak of hostilities in Europe in 1939, coupled with the growing realization that the United States might soon be drawn into World War II, resulted in the formation of the Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP). The Piper J3 Cub would play an integral role in the success of the CPTP, achieving legendary status.

The Piper J3 Cub became the primary trainer aircraft of the CPTP - 75 percent of all new pilots in the CPTP (from a total of 435,165 graduates) were trained in Cubs. By war's end, 80 percent of all United States military pilots received their initial flight training in Piper Cubs. The need for new pilots created an insatiable appetite for the Cub. In 1940, the year before the United States' entry into the war, 3,016 Cubs were built; soon, wartime demands would increase that production rate to one Piper J3 Cub being built every 20 minutes.

The Piper Cub quickly became a familiar sight. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt took a flight in a J3 Cub, posing for a series of publicity photos to help promote the CPTP. Newsreels and newspapers of the era often featured images of wartime leaders, such as Generals Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton and George Marshall, flying around European battlefields in Piper Cubs. Civilian owned Cubs joined the war effort as part of the newly formed Civil Air Patrol (CAP), patrolling the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast in a constant search for German U boats and survivors of U boat attacks.

Piper developed a military variant ("All we had to do," Bill Jr. is quoted as saying, "was paint the Cub olive drab to produce a military airplane"), variously designated as the L4, O59 and NE1. The varieties of models were collectively nicknamed "Grasshoppers" and were used extensively in World War II for reconnaissance, transporting supplies and medical evacuation. L4's were also sometimes equipped with lashed on infantry bazookas for ground attack. Mechanically identical to the J3, the military versions were equipped with large Plexiglas windows extending over the top of the wing and behind the rear seat passenger, and the side windows were enlarged.

In Europe, the final dogfight of WWII occurred between an L4 and a German Fieseler Fi 156 Storch. The pilot and co-pilot of the L4, Lts. Duane Francis and Bill Martin, opened fire on the Storch with their .45 caliber pistols, forcing the German air crew to land and surrender.

After the war, most L4's were destroyed or sold as surplus, but a few saw services in the Korean War. The Grasshoppers sold as surplus in the U.S. were redesignated as J3's, but often retained their wartime glazing and paint.

Charactaristics

  • Crew: one pilot
  • Capacity: one passenger
  • Length: 22 ft 5 in (6.83 m)
  • Wingspan: 35 ft 3 in (10.74 m)
  • Height: 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
  • Wing area: 178.5 ft² (16.58 m²)
  • Empty weight: 765 lb (345 kg)
  • Useful load: 455 lb (205 kg)
  • Max takeoff weight: 1,220 lb (550 kg)
  • Powerplant: 1× Continental A-65-8 air-cooled flat four, 65 hp (48 kW) @ 2350 RPM

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 76 kn (87 mph, 140 km/h)
  • Cruise speed: 65 kn (75 mph, 121 km/h)
  • Range: 191 NM (220 mi, 354 km)
  • Service ceiling 11,500 ft (3,500 m)
  • Rate of climb: 450 ft/min (2.3 m/s)
  • Wing loading: 6.84 lb/ft² (33.4 kg/m²)
  • Power/mass: 18.75 lb/hp (11.35 kg/kW)