The Taylor Cub was originally designed by C. Gilbert Taylor as a small, light and simple utility aircraft, evolved from the Arrowing Chummy. It is the forefather of the popular Piper J-3 Cub, and total production of the Cub series was 23,512 aircraft.[1]
Cub | |
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Taylor E-2 Cub at the Golden Age Air Museum in Bethel, Pennsylvania. | |
Role | Light utility aircraft |
Manufacturer | Taylor Aircraft Company |
Designer | C. Gilbert Taylor |
First flight | 12 September 1930 |
Number built | 353 |
Variants | Taylor J-2 |
Developed into | Piper J-3 |
In 1930 with C. G. Taylor as Chief Engineer, the Taylor Aircraft Company embarked on the production of a two-seat tandem low-powered aircraft, designated the Taylor Cub. The Cub featured a design with wings mounted high on the fuselage, an open cockpit, fabric-covered tubular steel fuselage and wooden wings which used the USA-35B airfoil. It was originally powered by a 20 horsepower (15 kilowatts) Brownback "Tiger Kitten" engine. Since the young offspring of the tiger is called a cub, Taylor's accountant, Gilbert Hadrel, was inspired to name the little airplane "The Cub".[citation needed]
The "Tiger Kitten" engine roared but was not strong enough to power the Cub. On September 12, 1930, a test flight of the Taylor Cub ended abruptly when the aircraft ran out of runway; the underpowered engine was unable to lift the monoplane higher than five feet (1.5 meters) above the ground. In October, a Salmson AD-9 radial engine produced in France was fitted to the Cub giving good performance, but it was expensive to maintain.[citation needed]
Finally in February 1931, Taylor introduced an improved Cub airframe, powered by the newly developed Continental Motors 37 horsepower (27.6 kilowatt) A-40 engine. The new Taylor E-2 Cub was awarded Category 2 or "Memo" certificate 2-358 on June 15, 1931, and licensed by the U.S. Department of Commerce for manufacture (it was later awarded full Approved Type Certificate A-455 on November 7). Twenty-two E-2 Cubs were sold during 1931, retailing for $1,325; by 1935, cost had increased to $1475 and by the end of production in February 1936, 353 Cubs had been built at Emery Airport, Bradford, Pennsylvania.[citation needed]
Data from [1]
General characteristics
Performance
Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era