THE COMANCHE WAS DESIGNED by Howard “Pug” Piper, the son of company founder Bill Piper. It featured advanced design features such as a tapered laminar flow wing and an all-moving stabilator in place of the more common fixed horizontal stabiliser and elevator.
The Comanche’s innovative, but labour-intensive design features, made it expensive to build. Then, when Hurricane Agnes flooded Piper’s Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, production facility in 1972— it was all the excuse Piper needed to end Comanche production and replace it with the cheaper and easier-to-build PA-28 Cherokees.
The Comanche was Piper’s first modern aircraft. In 1957, just the year before the introduction of the Comanche, Piper’s top-of-the-line single-engine model was the fixed-gear, boxy-looking, rag and tube, PA-22 Tri-Pacer.
It is noteworthy that, after decades of churning out high-wing planes, Piper chose a low-wing for its first all-metal plane. One explanation is that Al Mooney, the founder of Mooney Aircraft, was flying an early M-20 prototype and landed at Lock Haven because of bad weather. Pug Piper found room in a Piper hangar for the low-wing plane and promised to keep it safe while Mooney continued his trip. It’s said that Piper engineers went over the Mooney with a fine-toothed comb – and that’s why the Comanche as the first all-metal Piper, looks a lot like a Mooney, but without the Mooney’s iconic ‘backwards’ empennage.
Underappreciated
この記事は SA Flyer Magazine の April 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は SA Flyer Magazine の April 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
SACRIFICE
John continues his anecdotes about the sacrifices he has had to make in the course of his helicopter bush flying career.
KENYA - SAA PARTNERSHIP DELAY
KENYA AIRWAYS AND South African Airways announced the establishment of a highly anticipated Pan-African Airline Group three years ago.
TO PARIS FOR LUNCH
One morning I arrived back at Lanseria from a two day charter to a dreary Northern Cape iron mine. Entering the terminal, I removed my wings and epaulets, thrust them into my flight bag, and headed for the restaurant.
ASCA'S MPUMI MPOFU: READY FOR TAKE-OFF
Ms Mpumi Mpofu has occupied the hot seat as Chief Executive of ACSA, the Airports Company of South Africa for a tumultuous past four years.
HYDROGEN POWERED PLANE TESTED
WORLD’S LARGEST liquid hydrogen-powered aircraft, using a 1 MW fuel cell engine, has been tested.
CAMEROON - BLAMES BOEING
BOEING JUST CANNOT STAY out of trouble. It has become the whipping boy for endless absurd claims.
IRIS GOES TO SOMALIA
Having spent the last couple of years flying to a rota, I was thoroughly enjoying the freedom and randomness of flying charters at Sunbird Aviation.
TELEPORTATION
One of the best clients for whom I ever flew was BP, the British oil giant. I was with them in Algeria for about seven years, from the very start of their large gas projects, right in the heart of the Sahara Desert, near the small towns of In Amenas and In Salah.
FEBRUARY 2023
February has shown steady growth in the number of aircraft registered. Four fixed wing and one helicopter were added while the non-type certified (NTCA) register grew by seven.
RIGHT SEAT RULES NO. 16 FUEL SYSTEMS WHY SO COMPLICATED?
You know those aggranoying people who say, “Oh I wouldn't fly in one of those little things - you can't just pull over and fix it if something goes wrong\"? What makes this particularly irritating is that the bastards are right.