Piper PA-8 explained
The
Piper PA-8 Skycycle was a 1940s
American single-seat light aircraft designed and built by
Piper Aircraft at their
Lock Haven, Pennsylvania plant. Towards the end of 1944 Piper announced a number of aircraft it intended to build after the
second world war. One of these was the
PWA-8, (Post War Airplane 8) an aerodynamic test aircraft was built with the name
Cub Cycle and it first flew on 27 August 1944 with a small two–cylinder
Franklin Engine. The Franklin engine was replaced by a four–cylinder Continental A-40-3 of 370NaN0; the aircraft first flew with the Continental engine on 12 September 1944. The Skycycle was a fabric-covered mid-wing single-engined single-seat monoplane with a
tailwheel landing gear. The fuselage was produced using an auxiliary belly fuel tank as used on the
F4U Corsair. The Cub Cycle was scrapped and a similar but new aircraft was built with the name
Skycycle, which first flew on 29 January 1945 using the same Continental engine as the Cub Cycle. The aircraft was further modified in 1945 with a four-cylinder 550NaN0 Lycoming O-145-A2 engine and designated the
PA-8 Skycycle. No further examples were built.
A replica of the PA-8 Skycycle, the Carlson Skycycle, was built in 1995 by Ernst W. Carlson and produced by Carlson Aircraft of East Palestine, Ohio. Carlson intended to sell the aircraft in kit form, but no orders were forthcoming and the prototype was donated to the Piper Aviation Museum, since the original PA-8 was no longer in existence.[1] [2] [3] [4]
References
- Notes
Bibliography
- Book: Peperell. Roger W. Smith. Colin M. Piper Aircraft and their forerunners. 1987. Air-Britain. Tonbridge, Kent, England. 0-85130-149-5.
Notes and References
- Purdy, Don: AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, p. 138. BAI Communications.
- Downey, Julia: 1999 Kit Aircraft Directory, Kitplanes, Volume 15, Number 12, December 1998, p. 42. Primedia Publications. ISSN 0891-1851
- Downey, Julia: 2001 Kit Aircraft Directory, Kitplanes, Volume 17, Number 12, December 2000, p. 39. Kitplanes Acquisition Company. ISSN 0891-1851
- Downey, Julia: 2002 Kit Aircraft Directory, Kitplanes, Volume 18, Number 12, December 2001, p. 30. Kitplanes Acquisition Company. ISSN 0891-1851
