In 1941, the US Department of Defense announced a competition for a light observation aircraft. After preliminary qualification and testing, the Piper J-3 Cub was selected from twelve submitted aircraft. This design, developed from the E-2 Cub sport aircraft built in the early 1930s at the Taylorcraft factory, and from the J-2 and J-3 Cub produced at the new Piper company, was already extremely popular by that time.
The militarised J-3C Cub, without modifications, entered serial production as the O-59, and after enlarging the rear cockpit glazing, it was produced under the designation O-59A. In 1942, in accordance with a new classification, the designation was changed to L-4, and from then on the aircraft was known as the Piper L-4 Grasshopper (in successive variants from L-4A to L-4J). The most widely used version was the L-4H, which served from 1931 to 1950. Approximately 5,500 L-4 aircraft were produced in observation and liaison versions.
The L-4 Grasshopper was a single-engine, two-seat, high-wing liaison aircraft of mixed construction. Its wartime career began in November 1942 with participation in Operation “Torch” — the Allied landings in North Africa. Piper L-4 aircraft during their military service directed artillery fire and were also used as executive, ambulance and observation machines. Factory-unarmed aircraft were armed “on their own initiative” with infantry weapons, including M-6 “Bazooka” anti-tank launchers.
In the late 1940s, Poland purchased 141 Pipers, of which 127 were registered. They were mainly used in aero clubs for pilot training
and practice; some were used as executive machines, and a dozen or so aircraft were converted into ambulance and agricultural versions. By the mid-1950s, most of the “Cubs,” as they were affectionately called, were scrapped under the pretext of equipment standardisation.
The exhibited L-4A, serial number 43-29233, served from 1943 to 1945 with the 9th Air Force in Africa and Italy. Purchased by Poland as surplus, it was subsequently registered as SP-AFP. This aircraft was initially used as an executive machine by the Aviation Experimental Workshops in Lodz. Later, the aircraft flew with regional aero clubs. It was donated to the Museum’s collection in 1976 by its last user — the Workers’ Aero Club in Swidnik. At the Museum, it was restored to the standard in which it was manufactured in 1943.
| Wingspan | 10.7 m |
| Length | 6.7 m |
| Takeoff weight | 550 kg |
| Maximum speed | 140 km/h |
| Ceiling | 2835 kg |
| Range | 420 km |
| Armament | – |
| Engine | 4-cylinder horizontally opposed air-cooled Continental A-65-8 with a power output of 65 hp (48 kW) (the engine was started after overhaul at the Museum) |
