Some pictures from my old friend (and my first employer, other than my dad) Jack J Russell of Des Moines, Iowa. Jack let me look through some of his old 35mm slides so I could copy a few of interest as remembrances. Jack and my dad bought two antique Piper J-3 Cubs within about a month. The first one was a 1939 Cub and suffered minor damage on a rough landing, then caught fire during repair welding (due to the fact that it still had the ORIGINAL nitrate dope finish!). This was in 1966 or 1967. The second one was a much nicer 1941 model, which I flew for a couple of years and lost in a violent windstorm after successfully landing. It was finished in modern butyrate dope, a nice light cream color with dark brown trim -- the only non-military J-3 Cub I've ever seen that wasn't done in the original Cub yellow and black. Its only other non-standard feature was a set of little wheel pants (just fenders, really) to keep mud splash off the fuselage. There was no electric start (or any other electrics) on either plane; the engines were 65 bhp. Both were equipped with hydraulic wheel brakes, which was a very common but enormously important upgrade from the original. These airplanes weigh a whopping 600 pounds (about 300 kg) bone dry.
The pics are all late 1960s, and are somewhat faded by time. Enjoy!
L Cottrill
Real Flying 1968 a la 1940
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larry cottrill
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Real Flying 1968 a la 1940
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- The 1941 J-3, slightly wind damaged after my difficult but successful landing. The only undamaged parts were the landing gear -- even the engine crankshaft was twisted! Jack J Russell photo.
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- Another view of the wreckage. Note the all-important red seat cushion; I was never a very "tall in the saddle" pilot! Jack grabbed these shots about the same time as I was nervously filling out the FAA accident report. Jack J Russell photo.
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- The 1941 Piper J-3 Cub, fully restored with the traditional yellow and black color scheme. The wreck was sold to, and entirely re-built by, a guy 18 or 19 years old at the time -- the result was so nice, the Smithsonian Institution offered to take it off his hands! Jack J Russell photo.
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- My dad, Delbert Cottrill, with the 1939 J-3 Cub, restoration almost complete. Jack J Russell photo.
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- Closeup shot of my dad with the 1939 Cub. Jack J Russell photo.
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- Jack Russell with the 1939 Cub under reconstruction. Jack J Russell photo.
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- Space Age instrumentation typical in a J-3 Cub. The black painted corrugated sheet metal below and behind the panel is the rear of the fuel tank. Jack J Russell photo.
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- My dad in front, with Jack's friend Ed McWilliams behind. Traditionally, the pilot sits in the rear position in the Cub. Of the "three amigos", Ed was the only licensed pilot. Jack J Russell photo.
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- Another J-3 Cub; Jack believes this was probably a shot of Ed McWilliams' own plane. Jack J Russell photo.
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Chadly33
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Re: Real Flying 1968 a la 1940
The Cubs are a brilliant little plane! we have one in at work for routine maintenance at the moment, and yes it has the yellow paint scheme too!lol The boss had one he bought a few years back that we all got to have a fly of but that one was actually white with red stripes! it was actually used as a tug for gliders before he bought it if you can believe it!lol
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larry cottrill
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Re: Real Flying 1968 a la 1940
Chadly -
The white and red one was almost certainly a Super Cub (type PA-18), which is a later, heavier, more powerful re-design -- a WONDERFUL utility airplane! That's one I always wanted to fly, but never had a chance to. They are pretty 'old hat' now. Equipped with a few options like wing flaps and tandem wheel sets, they make an excellent short field / soft field plane for things like bush piloting, medical missionary flying, etc. One of the greats, for sure. These came along in the early 1950s, I think, and were always equipped with full electrics and of course, optionally, aviation radio in its many forms.
The original Cub is not a "nice" airplane, but it is a darned GOOD one! It's a plane you have to fly all the time, you can't get lazy. The reason I lost that one in the wind on the ground is that nobody had ever taught me how to "fly it on the ground" -- in a modern low-wing tricycle geared airplane, I'd have known how to handle it a lot better (and, it would have been simply a whole lot easier to handle correctly!).
The "nicest" plane I ever qualified in was the Piper Cherokee Six, a single-engine six-place all-metal craft with a payload a couple of hundred pounds greater than its own empty weight! It was actually wide enough to feature a narrow aisle between the two rows of seats. A mini airliner - ha. It was a complex sucker, though, nothing simple or easy about it, and when you had it fully loaded it sort of handled like a truck. Powerful and efficient, though, and fully equipped (meaning, the instrument panel cost more than most new cars).
L Cottrill
The white and red one was almost certainly a Super Cub (type PA-18), which is a later, heavier, more powerful re-design -- a WONDERFUL utility airplane! That's one I always wanted to fly, but never had a chance to. They are pretty 'old hat' now. Equipped with a few options like wing flaps and tandem wheel sets, they make an excellent short field / soft field plane for things like bush piloting, medical missionary flying, etc. One of the greats, for sure. These came along in the early 1950s, I think, and were always equipped with full electrics and of course, optionally, aviation radio in its many forms.
The original Cub is not a "nice" airplane, but it is a darned GOOD one! It's a plane you have to fly all the time, you can't get lazy. The reason I lost that one in the wind on the ground is that nobody had ever taught me how to "fly it on the ground" -- in a modern low-wing tricycle geared airplane, I'd have known how to handle it a lot better (and, it would have been simply a whole lot easier to handle correctly!).
The "nicest" plane I ever qualified in was the Piper Cherokee Six, a single-engine six-place all-metal craft with a payload a couple of hundred pounds greater than its own empty weight! It was actually wide enough to feature a narrow aisle between the two rows of seats. A mini airliner - ha. It was a complex sucker, though, nothing simple or easy about it, and when you had it fully loaded it sort of handled like a truck. Powerful and efficient, though, and fully equipped (meaning, the instrument panel cost more than most new cars).
L Cottrill
Re: Real Flying 1968 a la 1940
Piper Cherokee Six ..LOL...- I flew one of those.
And for sure I thought it handled like a bus - which is exactly like a truck -
except with passengers.Yeah it was flash but I never really liked it -also had a go at a Piper Turbo Arrow
(or whatever it was called) - NOW that was good value to get around in.First aeroplane that
I nearly hit a seagull with - it was so close you could almost see the numbers on the bird ring on it's leg.
Love the old Cub pictures - the old time Deer Cullers over here used to pack those things up
with dead deer -how they flew I never know.Used to be a thriving business for Talyor Craft and Cub propellers
as those guys always seemed to be nosing over up some creek somewhere.(a Long time ago that was!)
When I was flying some joker decided to steal the Aero Club's Cub...LOL...not exactly the
machine to do a runner in.I saw it as he took off from the inner apron. Anyway they chased him down in the Arrow ( now that was fast).They couldn't do anything about it in the air( oh there was some helpful suggestions from us younger folks...LOL).
Anyway it all ended well ...the Cub back and the joker behind bars.
Brother inlaw has access to a Tri-pacer -which is another cool one.
Thanks for the great pictures.
And for sure I thought it handled like a bus - which is exactly like a truck -
except with passengers.Yeah it was flash but I never really liked it -also had a go at a Piper Turbo Arrow
(or whatever it was called) - NOW that was good value to get around in.First aeroplane that
I nearly hit a seagull with - it was so close you could almost see the numbers on the bird ring on it's leg.
Love the old Cub pictures - the old time Deer Cullers over here used to pack those things up
with dead deer -how they flew I never know.Used to be a thriving business for Talyor Craft and Cub propellers
as those guys always seemed to be nosing over up some creek somewhere.(a Long time ago that was!)
When I was flying some joker decided to steal the Aero Club's Cub...LOL...not exactly the
machine to do a runner in.I saw it as he took off from the inner apron. Anyway they chased him down in the Arrow ( now that was fast).They couldn't do anything about it in the air( oh there was some helpful suggestions from us younger folks...LOL).
Anyway it all ended well ...the Cub back and the joker behind bars.
Brother inlaw has access to a Tri-pacer -which is another cool one.
Thanks for the great pictures.