Piper PA-11 Cub Special
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The Piper PA-11 Cub Special is a later-production variant of the J-3 Cub manufactured by
Piper Aircraft Piper Aircraft, Inc. is a manufacturer of general aviation aircraft, located at the Vero Beach Regional Airport in Vero Beach, Florida, United States and owned since 2009 by the Government of Brunei. Throughout much of the mid-to-late 20th cent ...
.


Design and development

The PA-11 is a high-wing braced cabin monoplane with a tail-wheel landing gear. The enclosed cabin has two tandem seats. Early PA-11s had a
Continental A65-8 The Continental O-170 engine is the collective military designation for a family of small aircraft engines, known under the company designation of A50, A65, A75 and A80. The line was designed and built by Continental Motors commencing in the 19 ...
engine, while the later ones had the option of a Continental C90-8. The PA-11 was based on the earlier J-3, but with the engine
cowling A cowling (or cowl) is the removable covering of a vehicle's engine, most often found on automobiles, motorcycles, airplanes, and on outboard boat motors. On airplanes, cowlings are used to reduce drag and to cool the engine. On boats, cowlings ...
fully enclosed (as on the earlier J-5), the windshield sloped at a shallower angle, and the fuel tank placed in the port
wing root The wing root is the part of the wing on a fixed-wing aircraft or winged-spaceship that is closest to the fuselage,Peppler, I.L.: ''From The Ground Up'', page 9. Aviation Publishers Co. Limited, Ottawa Ontario, Twenty Seventh Revised Edition, 1 ...
.Peperell 1987, p. 55. Both seats were slightly moved back, and solo flying was usually from the front seat. The prototype and two subsequent pre-production models were built using a modified J-3 fuselage and wings. The prototype first flew in August 1946 followed by the two pre-production aircraft later in 1946. The first production aircraft was completed at Lock Haven in March 1947 and production continued at Lock Haven until September 1949. A second production line was established at Ponca City between September 1947 and January 1948. On the early PA-11s, the fuselage was painted with a metallic blue on the lower half the rest being Lock Haven Yellow. The later PA-11s were all yellow with a simple brown stripe. The PA-11 also formed the basis for the next evolution in the Cub series, the PA-18 Super Cub, which shares many features.


Modifications

A small number of PA-11s have been modified to use a
Tricycle landing gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', that is arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one or more nose wheels in a single front undercarriage and two or more main wheels slightly aft of th ...
. The PA-11 was one of the first aircraft to be used by Piper for experiments with the nose wheel (also known as
tricycle gear Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', that is arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has one or more nose wheels in a single front undercarriage and two or more main wheels slightly aft of th ...
) configuration. Although its original design is intended to be a tail-dragger, a modification was created to mount a nose wheel. The nose wheel is attached to the two rear engine mounts by y-shaped steel tubes attached to a steel tube with a shaft that slides freely with the wheel. Cables run underneath the belly directly from fixtures on the rudder pedals to the nose wheel shaft. This gave the ability to steer by pivoting the nose wheel shaft with the rudder pedals. The shock system consisted of six circular bungee cords, sometimes four for softer landings, located on either side of the nose wheel shaft to ears on the top tube and the bottom shaft connected to the wheel. For the aircraft to balance properly with the nose wheel, the main gear was flipped around so that the center of balance would move forward. The pilot would sit in the front seat for added stability. A number of Cub Specials have been converted for flight operation using floats.


Variants

;PA-11: Two-seat light aircraft, powered by either a Continental A65-8 or a Continental C90-8 piston engine. ;PA-11S: Seaplane variant with twin EDO 1400 floats. ;L-18B: United States Military designation of the PA-11 Cub Special, powered by a Continental C90-8F piston engine, 105 built and delivered to Turkey, under the
Military Assistance Program The Mutual Defense Assistance Act was a United States Act of Congress signed by President Harry S. Truman on October 6, 1949. For U.S. foreign policy, it was the first U.S. military foreign aid legislation of the Cold War era, and initially to ...
. ;B.S.3A :()
Royal Thai Armed Forces The Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF; ; ) are the armed forces of the Kingdom of Thailand. The Highest Commander of the Royal Thai Armed Forces (จอมทัพไทย; ) is the King of Thailand. The armed forces are managed by the Minist ...
designation for the PA-11.


Operators


Military operators

; *
Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...
;


Specifications (PA-11 with 90 hp Continental engine)


References


Notes


Bibliography

* * Peperell, Roger. ''Piper Aircraft and Their Forerunners''. Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, 1987. . * Simpson, Rod. ''General Aviation Handbook''. Leicester, UK: Midland Publishing, 2005. .


External links

{{Thai liaison aircraft designations PA-11 1940s United States sport aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1946 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft