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The Piper J-3 Cub Story
The yellow Piper J-3 Cub is one of aviation's genuine classics. In the decades right before and after World War II, the Piper Cub
was the most commonly seen lightplane at airports all over the country. It's been said that back then most people thought that
every airplane flying was either a DC-3 or a Piper Cub. The J-3's charm and legendary flying abilities have made it one of the
most famous, best loved airplanes of all time.
To understand the Cub's appeal, look back at aviation as it was in 1930. Lindbergh had crossed the Atlantic just three years
earlier and made the world "air conscious". Airplanes were getting faster and more powerful every day. Air racing and distance
records were front page news. But while the major aircraft manufacturers were busy pushing ahead the state of the flying art,
thousands of prospective pilots with limited pocketbooks were being left behind. The cheap barnstorming Curtiss Jennys were
gone, replaced by impressive but expensive airplanes of the Stearman and Stinson class. With the Depression on, many people
wanted to fly but couldn't afford to. What general aviation needed was a simple, economical two-seat trainer!
The basic Cub design emerged in 1930 as the open cockpit Taylor E-2
Cub. It was the product of a fledgling company in Pennsylvania headed by
designer C.G. Taylor and businessman William T. Piper. Taylor left the
partnership in 1935 to start his own Taylorcraft company, but his self-
taught design genius had made the E-2 a perfect foundation for Piper's
business talents to expand on. In 1936, the J-2 Cub was introduced with
an enclosed cabin and 40 h.p. engine.
Piper J-3 Cub owned by Les Gaskill/Ottumwa, Iowa
In 1937 a further improved version of the Cub was introduced, the legendary J-3. The Piper factory produced 14,125 model J-3
Cubs between 1937 and 1947. That made it the single most successful civilian airplane design up to that time. The popularity of
the J-3 Cub was easy to understand. It provided airport operators with a low-maintenance, economical trainer that could survive
most bad landings. America's weekend pilots found an affordable basic stick and rudder machine that set a new standard for
fun and economical flying. The J-3 Cub was equally at home on wheels, floats, or skis, and it could be flown in and out of places
the larger civilian airplanes couldn't get close to. Cubs also found work towing gliders and banners, doing small-field crop
dusting, and even in air shows. Crazy "drunken" Cub acts, landing on moving automobiles and aerobatics in "Clipped Wing
Cubs" are just a few of the things the J-3 could do to entertain the crowds.
Like Henry Ford and his Model T car, William Piper had a standard for factory paint jobs for the J-3 -- "You can have any color
you like as long as it’s yellow!" Standard factory markings were black lightning bolts down the fuselage sides, black registration
numbers, and the Cub bear emblem. Today, it's hard to imagine a Cub painted any other way.
The Army used a version of the Cub, the L-4, for utility work during World
War II. The Piper L-4 "Grasshopper" was little more than an olive drab J-3
with a greenhouse style cabin. Piper produced 5,673 L-4s between 1942-
1945. They were used for observation, aerial photography, artillery
spotting, as transports, and as ambulances.
Even though the Piper J-3 Cub has been out of production since 1947, they are still in great demand by pilots who want a
superior, no frills, fun flying machine. As long as there are pilots around who still fly purely for the adventure of flight and who
don't care about all the latest gadgets and dials, there will always be yellow Piper Cubs!
Hazel Sig's Clipped Wing Cub
In 1953, an aerobatic pilot named Earl C. Reed got FAA approval to shorten the wings of his Piper J-3 Cub for better aerobatic
performance. Reed’s modification was to take 40-1/2 inches (about 2-1/2 rib bays) off the inboard end of both the left and right
wing panels. That shortened the standard J-3 wingspan of 35’-1-1/2" to 28’-5-1/2" and gave the airplane a faster roll rate.
Hazel Sig, co-founder of SIG MFG. CO., bought a well-used Piper J-3 Cub for pleasure flying in January of 1968. Carrying
registration number N32629, Hazel’s Cub had been manufactured in 1941 at the Piper factory in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania as
a standard Piper J-3C-65 Cub, serial number 5498. The log book showed that the Cub had been covered with ceconite and
painted with enamel in 1965, just three years before Hazel bought it. The ceconite and enamel turned out to be a bad
combination. After the simplest aerobatics, the enamel began to crack and loosen from the fabric in several places.