You might be asking why we would choose the Piper Cub as one of the most beautiful GA airplanes ever. Good question. By all objective metrics, the Piper J-3 is all knees and elbows, a plane that looks like it was designed by committee, with a boxy fuselage, a too-long wing, its belly low to the ground and its nose sporting engine parts sticking out here and there. But when pilots see a Cub, we see a thing of beauty, and that might be because the plane is so central to our identity as pilots, whether we’ve flown one of them or not.
And the parts, far from looking thrown together, complement each other, the big, long glider wing providing shade for a pair of seats set in tandem, its horizontal Dutch door providing as much a maze and obstacle as a portal, and the cowling not ill-designed but intentionally showing off its buried treasure, 65 horses of just the right kind of sound. And then there’s the best part, the Cub yellow, the lightning bolt, the little Cub logo, all of which are odd on their own but blend together to create an identity that sings like a clear Pennsylvania morning as the tires clip through the tall grass headed airborne. Beautiful? Beautiful beyond description.
