Piper PA-18 Super Cub

what is it?

The Piper PA-18 Super Cub is a two-seat, single-engine monoplane. Introduced in 1949 by Piper Aircraft, it was developed from the PA-11 Cub Special, and traces its lineage back through the J-3 Cub to the Taylor E-2 Cub of the 1930s. In close to 40 years of production, over 10,000 were built.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · fixed tailwheel (taildragger) · 10.7 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 209 km/htop speed
• range 735 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 1passengers
• size 794 kgmax take-off weight
• built 10,326made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 77 years ago, in 1949.
• 🏎️Top speed is 1.6× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 10.7 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1949

introduced

1949

number built

10,326

role

light utility aircraft

origin

🇺🇸 United States

makers

Piper Aircraft

engines

1× Lycoming O-320

crew

1

passengers

1

length

6.9 m

wingspan

10.7 m

height

2 m

max take-off weight

794 kg

top speed

209 km/h

cruise speed

185 km/h

range

735 km

ceiling

5,791 m

landing gear

fixed conventional landing gear

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.