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Newsletter 0704-2.Pub Fourth Quarter (Oct - Dec) 2007 Volume 20, Number 4 The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum Editorial s subjects of in-depth articles for the newsletter of a Museum ded- A icated primarily to World War II and Korean War military “warbirds,” the two aircraft covered in this issue of Plane Talk may seem a little out of place. What do the diminutive, unarmed, easy-to-fly Piper Super Cub and Cessna 140 civilian aircraft have to do with the large, heavy, imposing, armed-to-the-teeth “warbirds” that make up most of the War Eagles Air Museum collection? The answer is, “Everything.” The histories of Piper Aircraft Corp- oration and Cessna Aircraft Company be- gan in the earliest days of American avia- tion. Aircraft that rolled off of these com- panies’ assembly lines inspired dreams of flight in countless wide-eyed boys—and, no doubt, some girls as well. Many of these nascent pilots joined the Army, Na- vy or Marines in World War II and went S The Museum’s “new” 1954 Piper PA-18 Super Cub, piloted by Terry Sunday (f) and on to become America’s fighter, bomber Featured Aircraft Chief Pilot Gene Dawson (r), flies over the and transport pilots. As you read this is- irplanes are very much like peo- New Mexico desert. Photo: Chuck Crepas. sue, keep in mind that the docile little air- Cessna 172N photo plane pilot: Carl Wright. planes that Mr. Piper and Mr. Cessna cre- ple. Each one has a distinct per- ated, while they may differ greatly from A sonality. Some are strong, intim- the wartime military trainers, fighters and idating and aggressive. Consider, for ex- bombers built by Boeing, Convair, Doug- ample, the Vought F4U Corsair. With its huge engine, massive landing gear and Contents las, Grumman, Lockheed, North Ameri- Editorial......................................1 can and other companies, nevertheless gull wings bristling with armament, it ex- udes the sinister, no-nonsense aura of a Featured Aircraft........................1 played a very important role in the devel- From the Director.......................2 opment of American aviation. heavyweight boxer. It’s not an airplane you’d want to meet in a fight. At the oth- Clyde Cessna and the Cotton There are still a great many vintage Clipper Cutie—Part 1............4 Super Cubs, Cessna 140s and other simil- er end of the scale is this issue’s Featured Aircraft—the tiny, fun-loving, non-intim- Lightning—Missing in Action......6 ar classic civil aircraft flying in the world RV Fly-In Report........................6 today. Yes, they may lack the panache of idating Piper PA-18 Super Cub. Like a best friend, it simply says, “Let’s go fly!” Membership Application ............7 big, noisy, round-engined warbirds, but Corporate Youth Sponsors ........7 these friendly little aircraft even now rep- resent flying in its purest form. Featured Aircraft (Continued on Page 2) 1 www.war-eagles-air-museum.com Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum Fourth Quarter 2007 Featured Aircraft (Continued from page 1) From the Director The Super Cub story begins with its More than just an air museum… more famous predecessor—and arguably the most important general aviation air- hen War Eagles Air Museum craft of all time—the Piper Cub. Its lin- opened in September 1989, eage goes back to 1927, and the Taylor Brothers Aircraft Corporation of Roches- W the huge new hangar—as big S The Chummy, the debut airplane of the inside as a football field—looked pretty ter, New York. C. Gilbert and Gordon A. Taylor Brothers Aircraft Corporation, was empty. It contained only 12 aircraft and Taylor had started their company to build eventually phased out in favor of what be- five automobiles. Significantly, the air- a small, two-place, high-wing monoplane came the world-renowned Cub. craft were all flyable and fully operation- they called the Chummy. In 1928, after al. They had all been flown in under their Gordon died in the crash of a Chummy “flew” on September 12, 1930. Severely own power to Doña Ana County Airport, during a barnstorming flight in Detroit, underpowered, it barely gained five feet which, at the time, was a barren, isolated, C. Gilbert and his master mechanic father of altitude before ignominiously settling nearly vacant piece of real estate with no Arthur moved to Bradford, Pennsylvania back onto the runway. Legend has it that more than a few windswept, dusty hang- and set up shop in a vacant factory with a Gilbert Hadrel, the company accountant, ars and not much else. Airport Road, the short, cinder-covered runway. took a cue from the name of the engine main artery that now connects the Airport Now enters the person whose name and said, “Why not call the airplane a with “civilization” in El Paso, was rough is as inextricably linked with general avi- Cub?” A classic airplane name was born. graded dirt. There were no signs of the ation as the name “Henry Ford” is to the Alas, finding a bigger engine for the encroaching developments that today line automobile. William T. Piper, born on Cub was difficult, and time was short. In every road leading to the Museum. January 8, 1881 in Knapps Creek, New 1931, with demand for the Chummy vir- Times have certainly changed. To- York, had a varied background. He toiled tually dead and with Cub sales stalled for day, the Museum displays 33 aircraft— in the Pennsylvania oil fields, fought in lack of a suitable engine, the debt-ridden all but seven still flyable—and 46 auto- the Spanish-American War, was a Cap- Taylor Brothers Aircraft Corporation de- mobiles, motorcycles and military vehi- tain in the Corps of Engineers in World clared bankruptcy. Piper bought the com- cles. We’ve seen a big expansion of our War I, and, in 1903, earned a Mechanical pany’s assets for $761. His was the only displays of memorabilia, photographs, Engineering degree from Harvard. An af- bid. He retained the company name and documents, scale models and other items ter-college job as a construction superin- kept founder C. Gilbert Taylor on as related to military and civil aviation his- tendent was not to his liking, so he brief- President and Chief Engineer. tory. We’re the home of the El Paso Avi- ly managed the family’s oil business in Soon afterwards, Continental Motors ation Association Hall of Fame and the Bradford. He met the Taylors in 1929 Corporation introduced their new A-40 International Bird Dog Association, and and bought $400 worth of stock in their four-cylinder, 37-horsepower engine. Al- we have an active Oral History program. company. As a prominent businessman, though it had teething problems, it was We are now so much more than an “air” he got a seat on the Board of Directors just the injection of power that the Cub museum. We hope you take the time to and quickly became Secretary-Treasurer needed. The U.S. Department of Com- enjoy all of our exhibits when you visit. of the Taylor Brothers Aircraft Corpora- merce certificated the re-engined Taylor tion. But the energetic Piper soon had E-2 Cub on July 11, 1931. Sales for that Skip Trammell some serious run-ins with C. Gilbert. year were 22 aircraft at $1,325 each. Business conditions at the time were In 1932, young Walter Jamouneau, dismal. With the nation in the depths of the 19-year-old scion of a wealthy fami- the Great Depression, there was no mark- ly, who wanted to be an aeronautical eng- Plane Talk et for the Chummy, which cost a relative- ineer despite his lack of a college degree, Published four times per year by: ly expensive $3,985. Against much oppo- took a job at Taylor Brothers. His first sition, Piper finally convinced Taylor to assignment was to “tweak” the E-2 de- War Eagles Air Museum build a lower-priced, easy-to-fly, simple- 8012 Airport Road sign. The resulting airplane was more Santa Teresa, New Mexico 88008 to-maintain airplane designed to appeal rounded than the E-2 and had a greatly (575) 589-2000 to the general public. The resulting mod- improved Continental engine. It was des- el, called the Taylor E-2, was an open- ignated the J-2—the “J” stood for “Jam- Author/Editor: Terry Sunday cockpit monoplane with a high-mounted Contributing Author: Robert Haynes ouneau.” The young designer further re- Chief Nitpicker: Frank Harrison wooden wing and an anemic, 20-horse- fined the airplane over several years. He Final Proofreader: Kathy Sunday power, two-cylinder Brownbach Tiger introduced a steel-tubing frame, fit buck- Kitten engine. It sold for about half the [email protected] cost of a Chummy. The new airplane first Featured Aircraft (Continued on page 3) www.war-eagles-air-museum.com 2 Fourth Quarter 2007 Plane Talk—The Newsletter of the War Eagles Air Museum Featured Aircraft (Continued from page 2) line at the rate of one every 20 minutes! Over et seats instead of wooden boards in the 80 per cent of Ameri- cockpit, added a steerable tail wheel and can wartime military even put brakes on the main wheels—a pilots learned to fly in rare feature in light aircraft at the time. the diminutive trainer. Engine output went up to 40, 50 and fi- Between 1939 and nally 65 horsepower, and buyers could 1947, Piper delivered choose a Continental, Franklin or Lyco- more than 14,000 mili- ming powerplant. By 1937, Jamouneau’s tary Cubs of several work culminated in the definitive version different types, all of of the light, cheap, easy-to-fly airplane them generically nick- that changed the course of general avia- named Grasshoppers.
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