The Piper J-4 Cub Coupe is a two place side-by-side version of the

Piper J-3 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 ...

that was built between 1938 and 1942 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 ...

. It was Piper's first model with side-by-side seating; combined with docile low-speed handling, this made it a good trainer.

J-4 development

The fuselage of the J-4 was wider than the J-3 and the aircraft had a fully enclosed rear decking to the fuselage top. The first J-4s had a

Continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continent, the major landmasses of Earth * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' ( ...

50 hp A50 engine with upward-facing exhaust ports, an open cowl, oil and spring landing gear, a modified tail wheel system and many other changes. The early J-4 had a comfortable cockpit but was slower than most side by side aircraft of the day. The 1940 J-4A gained a fully enclosed cowling, a

65 hp A65 engine, and aft auxiliary fuel. The J-4B was fitted with a 60 hp

Franklin 4AC The Franklin O-150 (company designation 4AC-150) was an American air-cooled aircraft engine of the late 1930s. The engine was of four-cylinder, horizontally-opposed layout and displaced . The power output was nominally . Applications * Aer ...

-171 engine. The final version was the 1941 J-4E which sported a 75 hp Continental engine and redesigned interior. The main fuel tank was moved to the wing along with a header tank. Performance was now on par with similar contemporary types, but the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, j ...

sealed its fate as all civilian aircraft manufacture came to a stop with the entry of the United States into World War II. Some J-4s had another unique feature in the tail construction: the stabilizer was made of stainless steel tubing, riveted together with gussets.

Variants

;J-4: powered by a 50-hp (37-kW) Continental A50-1 piston engine. ;J-4A: powered by a 65-hp (48-kW) Continental A65-1 or -8 piston engine. ;J-4B: powered by a 60-hp (45-kW) Franklin 4AC-171 or 65-hp (48-kW) 4AC-176-B2 piston engine. ;J-4E: powered by a 75-hp (56-kW) Continental A75-9 piston engine. ;J-4F: powered by a 55-hp (41-kW) Avco Lycoming O-145-A1, -A2 or 65-hp (48-kW) O-145-B1 piston engine.

Specification (J-4A)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *

External links

{{Aircraft manufactured in Canada J-4 1930s United States sport aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1938

J-4 development

Variants

Specification (J-4A)

See also

References

External links