Lou’s View – Sept. 8, 2016
On the Fly
by Lou Bernard
See that airplane up there? The one flying overhead right now? It’s a Piper Tri-Pacer. Oops, you missed it—It’s over the horizon now. It was definitely a Tri-Pacer, though—I could tell by the size, plus the placement of the wings and the propeller. Trust me.
Hang around the Piper Aviation Museum long enough, and you pick up a few things. I’m not an expert yet, but I’ve learned a lot. I can answer some of the questions I get, which is good, and I’m learning where to find the answers if I don’t know, which is even better. Daily, I’m getting questions, and I’m finding that it’s getting easier to answer them.
You have some questions about Piper? Great. I was hoping. Let’s get to it.
What’s with all the yellow? Every Piper plane I see is yellow. What’s the deal? The Cub is Piper’s flagship plane, and traditionally, they are painted yellow. William Piper wanted two things: To make planes that were easy to afford and operate by regular people, and to make them stand out. Originally, the planes were silver and red, but he felt that the silver wasn’t visible enough in the sky. The yellow shade was chosen because it stood out the most against a blue sky.
How about all the Native American names? How did those come about? In 1952, Piper Aviation was looking for a way to name their new signature aircraft. Management came up with a bad idea. I don’t know what idea this was—It was so terrible that history does not record it—But Howard “Pug” Piper, a company vice-president at the time, hated the idea and vetoed it. He wanted something that suggested American freedom and travel, and brought up the concept of using Native American names. The company has listed the Apache, Comanche, Tomahawk, Papoose, Aztec, and Pawnee among their creations.
Okay, but what about the Grasshopper? That would be the L-4, which was essentially the military version of the Cub. It was painted olive drab because that’s the only color the Army knows about, and used during World War II for training, message and supply delivery, spotting troop movements, and evacuating wounded. They were nicknamed “Grasshoppers” because they were designed to take off and land from small grassy spaces.
So when and how did Piper come to Lock Haven? And also, why? The Piper plant used to be in Bradford, Pennsylvania, but it burned down. In 1937, a local flying club enlisted the help of Chamber of Commerce President Edgar Heffner in pitching Lock Haven as a possible place to move to. Heffner was flown out to Bradford in a small plane, met with Piper, and had a test ride in a Cub. He talked Piper into moving to Lock Haven. Amusingly, Heffner later confessed that he was afraid to fly.
So why did they leave? Let’s not blame this one on the Piper Corporation, or the Piper family. By 1984, Piper had been bought out by parent company Lear Siegler, and it was Lear Siegler that made the decision to pull out of Lock Haven. They had a newer plant in Vero Beach, Florida, and that’s where they decided to concentrate their efforts. I firmly believe that William Piper would have chosen to stay in Lock Haven.
So is the Piper Museum really in the old Piper factory? Part of it, yes. The Piper Museum owns the old design building, where they designed pretty much all the planes, and in fact did manufacture the Navajos. This leads to a lot of interesting architectural details. I’m told that the archives room didn’t used to have a floor, so the planes could be lowered down to the hangar. One room was the Screen Room, which blocked out all radio waves for testing. There are still some concealed staircases and an old vault that nobody ever gets to see.
So exactly what the hell is it you do down there, anyway? This is the most frequent question I get, and if it keeps coming up, I’m going to have to make an effort at looking busier. I do some of the research, help to manage the archives and displays, and in general, try to find ways to bring people into the museum. So if you happen to be reading this, come on in and visit me. Make me look competent.
