The Piper PA-16 Clipper is an extended fuselage model of the PA-15 Vagabond.Plane and Pilot: ''1978 Aircraft Directory'', page 59. Werner & Werner Corp Publishing, 1978. Both models were designed in 1947 for the same reason –

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 ...

found itself in dire financial straits and needed to create new, competitive models using existing parts and tooling. The result was the Vagabond, essentially a side-by-side version of the tandem

J-3 Cub The Piper J-3 Cub is an American light aircraft that was built between 1938 and 1947 by Piper Aircraft. The aircraft has a simple, lightweight design which gives it good low-speed handling properties and short-field performance. The Cub is Pi ...

credited with saving the company.

Design and development

The PA-16 Clipper is a stretched and refined version of the Vagabond intended to seat four people (or "two-and-a-half to three" as often told by Clipper pilots). It is equipped with an extra wing tank, added doors to accommodate the new seating, and a Lycoming O-235, the same engine that would later power the Cessna 152. The PA-16 Clipper retained the control sticks that had up to that point been common in aircraft derived from the "Cub" family. In 1949, the Clipper sold for $2995. The average four-place airplane on the market at that time cost over $5000. Only 736 Clippers were built in the one year of production before Piper changed to the

Piper PA-20 Pacer The PA-20 Pacer and PA-22 Tri-Pacer, Caribbean, and Colt are an American family of light aircraft, light strut-braced high-wing monoplane aircraft built by Piper Aircraft from 1949 to 1964. The Pacer is essentially a four-place version of ...

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

Airlines, which traditionally called its famous luxury airliners "Clippers", took offense at Piper using the name for its light aircraft. As a result of this pressure Piper further refined the model, adding wing flaps, further fuel tanks and replaced the control sticks with yokes. A more powerful Lycoming O-290 125 hp engine was installed and this model became the

Operational history

Despite the low number of aircraft built, according to the

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

, in April 2018 there were still 303 examples in service in the United States.

Specifications (PA-16)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *Piper's Golden Age by Alan Abel, Drina Welch Abel, and Paul Matt *The Pilot's Guide to Affordable Classics by Bill Clarke *

External links

* {{Piper Cub aircraft 1940s United States sport aircraft High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft

Clipper A clipper was a type of mid-19th-century merchant sailing vessel, designed for speed. Clippers were generally narrow for their length, small by later 19th century standards, could carry limited bulk freight, and had a large total sail area. "C ...

Aircraft first flown in 1947

Design and development

Operational history

Specifications (PA-16)

See also

References

External links