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Falling in love with a Cassutt
Steve Weaver in the early 70s with his speedy Cassutt. (Courtesy of Steve Weaver)By Steve Weaver
In the summer of 1974 I was operating a Flying Service in the northern part of West Virginia. My days were full to overflowing as I jumped between management duties and flying, managing the bustling FBO when I could and flying when I was needed to fill-in for the other pilots.
The charter business was booming at that time and many of my days (and nights) were spent flying businessmen and freight all over the Eastern part of the US in the Navajo, the Seneca and the Aztecs that we operated for hire. During one such trip to a small airport in the Eastern section of Pennsylvania, an ad on the office bulletin board caught my eye.
“For Sale, 1937 J-2 Cub”, the sign said. I owned a 1939 J-3 at the time, but I’d always been curious about the earlier Cubs that used the 40 horse power Continental engines. I inquired about it from the lady running the little airport, and she stated that it had been her deceased husband’s airplane and she wanted to sell it to make room in the hangar.
How Bill Piper and His Piper Cub Taught America How to Fly
By Alan Smith
We all know that a number of men played a significant role in the development of the private aircraft. We know about Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech, Don Luscombe and others, but only one really made a personal plane affordable to the masses. That was William T/ Piper of Bradford, Pennsylvania where he worked in his father’s oil business. He was well into middle age before he found himself moving into the airplane business and did not learn to fly until he was 60 years old.
Early in the century, shortly after the Wright Brothers had proved the powered airplane possible at Kitty Hawk North Carolina on December 17, 1903, Piper had been in the military, had been involved in the Spanish American War, and had earned a Harvard degree in mechanical engineering. He set out to get into the industrial construction business, but soon lost interest in that and returned to Bradford with his family to join his father in the oil business.