The Piper Cub , or Piper J-3 is a light plane whose design goes back to the Années 1930. Built to thousands of specimens, there remains today one of the most known and appreciated planes.
Origins
The origins of Cub go back to the Taylor E2 Tiger Kitten of Taylor Brother' S Airplane Company which was motorized by a Brownbach engine from only 20 cv.The Taylor company will be repurchased by the business man William Piper and in 1937 leaves the first Piper J-3 Cub been driven by an engine Continental A50 of 50 cv.
The plane will be an enormous business success and several thousands will be manufactured before the entry in war of the the United States.
One often compared J-3 with the Ford T, because it was the plane which popularized aviation as well as Ford popularized the car.
Moreover, just as Ford T could be painted of any color provided that it were in black, Cub all will be painted in yellow with a fine black band in the shape of arrow broken along the fuselage.
As of before war, the range will be supplemented by two derived: The J-4 Cub Cuts two-seater side by side and the J-5 Cub Cruiser three-seater.
The Second world war
During the war, J-3 will be selected by the American army like plane of drive, observation, connection and evacuation of casualties.
Several thousands will be built under designation Piper L-4 , recognizable with their cabin more largely glazed than the civil versions.
L-4 will be called Grasshoppers, i.e. grasshoppers, for their tendency to rebound with the landing.
A sailplane of drive will be even derived from J-3 under designation TG-8.
It is Piper Cub (n° 329911) which, on August 24th 1944 with the Captain Jean Callet with the orders and Lieutenant Etienne Mantoux like observer, will fly over at very low altitude Paris and the Police headquarter to transmit to the resistant the message of the Général Leclerc “Hold good, we arrive” announcing the imminent arrival of the Franco-American troops in order to deliver the city of the German occupation.
After war
Piper Cub resold on the spot by the American army will make the joy of the aéros European clubs and J-3 will become one of the light planes most popular of the time.
The production of J-3 will take again after war, followed models PA-11 Cub Special more powerful, PA-12 Super Cruiser three-seater and PA-14 four-seater Family Cruiser .
The last derivative of Cub will be the PA-18 Super Cub , produced 1949 until 1994 and equipped with motorizations from 90 to 150 cv, like its military version, the PA-19 or L-18.
Today still, Cub remain very popular and very required for their qualities of flight and their low costs of exploitation.
They constitute an excellent plane for the training of the traditional train and make it possible to enter to few expenses the world of the planes of collection.
Additional features
-
Monoplan with high wing semi-cantilever without shutters
- Biplace out of tandem with closed cabin (the pilot being in back place for reasons of centering)
- traditional Train fixed with caster of tail
- Continental Moteur 4 cylinders flat cools by air
- Réservoir gasoline with 45 liters in the nose with the apparatus
- Consommation: 16 l/h
- Stalling speed: 35 kts
- Empty weight: approximately 300 kg or more according to equipment (starter, alternator, radio,…)
- Takeoff distance: 130 m
- Passage of the 15 m: 245 m
- Landing distance after passage of the 15 m: 200 m
- Rolling with the landing: 115 m
Taking into account these distances, it can be regarded as a Short take-off and landing aircraft (s.t.o.l).
Production
On the whole, since first E-2 of Taylor, more than 40.000 Cub were built.
-
J-3 Cub : 20.159 of 1938 to 1947 whose 5.867 L-4
- J-4 Cub Crosses: 1.251 of 1938 to 1942
- J-5 Cub Cruiser: 1.506 of 1940 to 1945
- PA-11 Special Cub: 1.541 of 1947 to 1950
- PA-12 Super Cruiser: 3.759 of 1946 to 1948
- PA-14 Family Cruiser: 238 of 1948 to 1949
- PA-18 Super Cub: 10.224 of 1949 to 1981 then 102 of 1988 to 1994
Some Cub will be also built under license of which PA-18 by the company texanne WTA of 1982 to 1988.
Today the company Cub Crafter in the state of Washington always produces a modernized version of the named PA-18 Top Cub.
See too
List of the civil aircrafts
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