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Piper Airplanes of the 1950s

Piper Aircraft Corporation began in 1927 as the Taylor Brothers Aircraft Manufacturing Company. After Taylor filed for bankruptcy in 1930, oilman William Piper, one of the original investors, purchased the company's assets under the firm belief that easy-to fly and inexpensive small airplanes represented the future of general aviation. This philosophy culminated in the creation of the iconic Piper Cub, the classic bright yellow, single-engine, two-seat American airplane. The wildly successful basic Cub was only produced from 1937 to 1947. Variants of the Cub, however, along with a number of other significant Piper aircraft that would earn their own place in aviation, were introduced in the 1950s.

PA-18 Super Cub
- The PA18 was the evolved, more powerful version of the original Cub, featuring all-metal wings. The 135-horsepower Lycoming O-290 variant first appeared in 1952 and a four-cylinder Lycoming 150-horsepower PA18 followed in 1955. The PA18 followed the original Cub's configuration of two seats in tandem. It has a maximum cruising speed of 87 knots, a rate of climb of 960 feet per minute and a service ceiling of 15,750 feet. More than 7500 Piper PA18 Super Cubs were built and the model was in continuous production until 1981.
PA-23 Apache
- Though the low-wing, twin-engine Piper Apache went into production in 1954, its beginnings actually date to Consolidated Vultee's Twin Stinson design of the late 1940's. Piper acquired Consolidated in 1948 and revived the Stinson design, developing it into the Apache with more powerful six cylinder, 235-horsepower engine, all-metal construction and retractable landing gear. The four-seat Apache has a cruising speed of 166 knots, an initial climb rate of 1,470 feet per minute and a service ceiling of 17,200 feet. 2,047 Apaches were built and the model later evolved into the Piper Aztec, which was produced until 1982.
PA-24 Comanche
- The high-performance Comanche was Piper's first low-wing, single-engine aircraft. First flight occurred in 1956 and deliveries to customers began in 1957. The all-metal, laminar flow wing design and swept back tail distinguished the Comanche from all its Piper single-engine predecessors and those of other manufacturers as well. With a huge, eight cylinder Lycoming IO-720 powerplant, Piper declared the Comanche the fastest production-model four-seat single engine aircraft of its time. It has a cruising speed of 157 knots, an initial rate of climb of 1,350 feet per minute and a service ceiling of 20,000 feet. Only 148 Comanches had been produced by June, 1972 when the model was discontinued.
PA-25 Pawnee
- Until Piper introduced the Pawnee in 1959, most crop-dusting airplanes were World War I surplus biplanes. The single-seat Pawnee was one of the first commercially produced planes conceived and built from the drawing board up specifically as an agricultural aircraft. A low-wing, single-engine design, the Pawnee was initially powered by a 235 horsepower six-cylinder Lycoming. This was increased to 250 horsepower in later models. It has a cruising speed of 91 knots and a typical crop spraying speed of 78 knots. Initial rate of climb is 630 feet per minute and service ceiling is 13,000 feet. When production ceased in 1982, 5,015 Pawnees had been manufactured.

Aviation