All about the immortal J-3 Piper Cub and L-4 Grasshopper, built by William Piper at Lock Haven, which evolved into the PA-11 Cub Special, PA-18 Super Cub, and the Legend Cub and other lookalikes of today

Flying Tigers
revised and updated

THE PIPER CUB FORUM

Early J-3 stripped down

Mark Rhodes of Belle Chasse, Louisiana, found this early J-3 Cub a couple years ago, resting in storage since 1971. Now he's engaged in putting her back together. The serial number is 2467, so she was from Piper's first production run of 588 J-3s, numbered 2001-2588, in the summer and fall of 1938. There were, in addition, 16 planes with earlier serials, two of them listed as "prototype" J-2 conversions in Roger Peperell's Piper Aircraft. Mark says that his Cub has J-2 ailerons, suggesting that it came out of the Lock Haven factory earlier than September that year, when Frise-type balanced ailerons were introduced.

The Cub Trainer went on sale for $1249, while the somewhat fancier Cub Sport listed for $1395. Most had a 40-horsepower engine. By my rough count, three dozen J-3s from that 1938 production run are still registered in the United States. Blue skies! — Daniel Ford

Classic Cubs, from Taylor and Piper:

What's a Cub? (from the E-2 to the PA-18 Top Cub)
Production figures (from Taylor to Zlin Aviation)
Assembling Cubs at San Benito on the Gulf of Mexico
Restoring Marion Carl's J-2
Piper Cubs of the Luftwaffe
Four One Victor, all new, all over again :)
Piper Cubs in Dutch service
Meet Leah Jones, one of the original Piper crew
Liberty Girl: around the world in an L-4 Grasshopper
A Sentimental Journey to Lock Haven
San Diego to Lock Haven, 2003 (Len Buckel)

The Cub wannabes of a later time:

The Legend Cub: a J-3 for the 21st century
A weight & balance table for the Legend Cub
Cub Crafters introduces its Sport Cub at Oshkosh
The Tiger Cub Ultralight
The Savage, a lookalike with a Rotax engine
The Wall Street Journal salutes the Top Cub (Lynn Lunsford)
The Husky: a Super Cub for the 21st century

Flying Tigers

Some highly practical stuff:

Mounting an ELT in a J-3
The webmaster's guide to Cub-friendly airports
The story of Cub Yellow
Inspection Reports for Classic Cubs and the Super Cub
Choosing the engine for a J-3 (John Renwick)
Getting your aircraft's records from the FAA
How to find Airworthiness Directives for a Cub
Why a wooden prop?
A wind generator for a Piper Cub
Removing the gas tank on a Piper J-3 (Len Buckel)
Fixing the brakes on a J-3 Cub (Len Buckel)
That Marvel-ous Mystery Oil (Robert Parker)
Some specs for a Cub with a Continental 65 engine
Piper Cub instrument panel (Stu Bright)
Using a handheld radio in a Cub (Lynn Towns)
Hand propping a Cub (Lynn Towns)
Recovering a Piper Cub (John Scott)
Doing a weight & balance calculation for a J-3
Pre-flighting a J-3
Low-tech mounts for your GPS unit
Clearing up the paperwork on a J-3 Cub

Books and suchlike:

A Piper Cub bibliography
Subscribe to Cub Clues newsletter
Taildragger Tales (Daniel Ford)
F.E. Potts's Guide to Bush Flying (F.E. Potts)
The Compleat Taildragger Pilot (Harvey Plourde)
Low and Slow: a Liaison Pilot in WWII (Don Moore)
Janey: A Little Plane in a Big War (Alfred Schultz)
L-Birds and the Brodie Device (Terry Love)
Acceptable methods, techniques & practices (FAA pub 43.13)

Question? Comment? Newsletter? Send me an email. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

Cowboy: interpreter, warlord, one more casualty

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Posted December 2018. Websites ©1997-2018 Daniel Ford; all rights reserved.