The Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser is an American three-seat, high wing, single-engine

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

-equipped light aircraft that was produced 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 centur ...

between 1946-48. The PA-12 was an upgraded and redesignated

Piper J-5 The Piper J-5 Cub Cruiser was a larger, more powerful version of the basic Piper J-3 Cub. It was designed just two years after the J-3 Cub, and differed by having a wider fuselage with the pilot sitting in the front seat and two passengers sittin ...

.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', page 59. Werner & Werner Corp, Santa Monica CA, 1977.

Development

When Piper dropped the J- designation system in exchange for the PA- system, the J-5C became the PA-12 "Super Cruiser". The earlier J-5s had been powered by either a Lycoming O-235 or a Lycoming O-145. The newer PA-12 model was initially powered by a Lycoming O-235-C engine, was fully cowled, and had a metal spar wing with two 19 gallon fuel tanks. A Lycoming O-235-C1 engine rated at for takeoff was optional. The prototype ''NX41561'' was converted from a J-5C and first flew from Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, on 29 October 1945. The first production model followed on 22 February 1946 and quantity production continued until the last example of 3760 built was completed on 18 March 1948. The PA-12 is approved for wheels, skis, floats and also for

crop spraying Pesticides are substances that are meant to control pests. This includes herbicide, insecticide, nematicide, molluscicide, piscicide, avicide, rodenticide, bactericide, insect repellent, animal repellent, microbicide, fungicide, and lam ...

. Cockpit accommodation is provided for the pilot in the front seat and two passengers in the rear seat, side-by-side. Unlike the J-3 Cub the PA-12 is flown solo from the front seat.

Operational use

Many PA-12s have been modified with larger engines. Wing flaps and a metal-skin fuselage can be added as modifications. In 1947, two PA-12s, named ''City of Washington'' and ''City of the Angels'', flew around the world. The worst mechanical failure they suffered was a cracked tailwheel. The ''City of Washington'' currently resides at the Boeing Aviation Hangar, part of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. The ''City of the Angels'' is on display at the

Piper Aviation Museum The Piper Aviation Museum is an aviation museum at the William T. Piper Memorial Airport in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. It is focused on the history of the Piper Aircraft Corporation. History Originally founded in the 1980s as a part of the Lock ...

in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. PA-12s have been exported to a number of countries including Belgium, Canada, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Many PA-12s are still flown by private pilot owners and the type is commonly seen in North America. In November 2009 there were still 1688 registered in the US and 229 in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Variants

;PA-12 :Original model type certified 24 March 1947, with a gross weight of in the Normal Category and in the Utility Category ;PA-12S :Second model type certified 11 August 1948, with gross weight, Normal Category only The PA-12S Seaplane variant was fitted with the Lycoming O-290-D2 engine to improve take-off performance.

Notable accidents

* 31 July 2020 - A PA-12 piloted by Alaska State Representative Gary Knopp was involved in a mid-air collision with a de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver near Soldotna Airport in the

Kenai Peninsula The Kenai Peninsula ( Dena'ina: ''Yaghenen'') is a large peninsula jutting from the coast of Southcentral Alaska. The name Kenai (, ) is derived from the word "Kenaitze" or "Kenaitze Indian Tribe", the name of the Native Athabascan Alaskan tribe ...

, killing Knopp and all six persons aboard the DHC-2.

Specifications (PA-12)

References

Bibliography

* * Peperell, Roger W. and Smith Colin R., ''Piper Aircraft and their forerunners'', 1987, Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd, Tonbridge, Kent, .

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piper Pa-12 PA-12 Single-engined tractor aircraft 1940s United States civil utility aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1945