Information in English below

Almennur fróðleikur um Piper Clipper flugvélar:

Piper PA-16 getur rakið ættir sínar aftur til ársins 1938, þegar Piper fór að framleiða útgáfu af Piper J-3 Cub sem hafði sætin hlið við hlið. Þessi tveggja sæta flugvél fékk nafnið Piper J-4 Cub Coupe og var aðallega ætluð til flugkennslu, en varð nokkuð vinsæl meðal einkaflugmanna. Aðalbreytingin sem gerð var á vélinni var að skrokkurinn var breikkaður til að hægt væri að koma fyrir tveimur sætum hlið við hlið, en að öðru leiti var notast við vængi og stél af J-3 og hreyfillinn var annað hvort Continental A-65 eða A-75 (65-75 hestafla). Vél þessi var framleidd í um það bil 1200 eintökum fram til ársins 1942, er framleiðsla lagðist af vegna stríðsins.

Eftir að stríðinu lauk voru Piper verksmiðjurnar í alvarlegum peningavandræðum. Sú flugvél sem gerði Piper að nokkurs konar stórveldi í framleiðslu einkaflugvéla, Piper J-3 Cub, þótti orðin úrelt, auk þess mikið magn af notuðum slíkum vélum var til sölu og seldist hún því ekki vel. Vélin sem Piper hafði bundið miklar vonir við, Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser, seldist einnig illa.  Úr vöndu var að ráða, þar sem verksmiðjurnar höfðu keypt mikið magn efnis til smíða á J-3 og PA-12 vegna þeirra vona sem gerðar höfðu verið til mikillar sölu þessara tegunda.

Þá fengu hönnuðir Piper hugljómun, og ákváðu að hanna flugvél sem byggði á góðu gengi J-4 Cub Coupe fyrir stríð. Vélin sem til varð fékk heitið Piper PA-15 Vagabond. Þó að segja megi að hún sé óskilgetið afkvæmi J-4, þá er hönnunin talsvert önnur og sára fáir partar ganga á milli véla. Piper PA-15 Vagabond var tveggja sæta flugvél með sætin hlið við hlið, og í smíði hennar var hægt að nota það efni sem Piper verksmiðjurnar áttu á lagar, þar sem hún var smíðuð úr röragrind klædd með dúk. Ein stór breyting var gerð frá fyrri Piper flugvélum, en það var á vængnum. Þó að notaður væri sama væng þversnið og á fyrri flugvélum Piper þá voru vængirnir styttir verulega, eða um tæpa tvo metra, og varð þetta upphafið af röð flugvéla sem ganga undir nafninu „stuttvængja Piper“ (short wing Piper). Piper Vagabond flaug fyrst árið 1947 og voru flestar þeirra framleiddar með 65 hestafla Lycoming O-145 hreyfli.  Vélin seldist nokkuð vel, eða í um 600 eintökum, og er almennt talin hafa komið í veg fyrir að Piper verksmiðjurnar yrðu gjaldþrota.

Samhliða hönnunarvinnu á hinni tveggja sæta Vagabond, var Piper einnig að vinna að fjögurra sæta afbrigði. Sú flugvél var alveg eins og Vagabond að öllu leiti, nema búið var að lengja skrokkinn á henni um 43 sentimetra (17 tommur) til að hægt væri að koma fyrir bekk fyrir tvo fyrir aftan framsætin. Nýr hreyfill var einnig settur í vélina, Lycoming O-235 sem skilaði 108 hestöflum. Nýja flugvélin flaug fyrst árið 1947, en var ekki sett í framleiðslu fyrr en árið 1949 sem Piper PA-16 Clipper. Vélin var bara framleidd í eitt ár áður en framleiðslu hennar var hætt þegar nýtt og endurbætt afbrigði fór í framleiðslu sem Piper PA-20 Pacer, en á þessu ári voru framleidd rétt innan við 800 eintök.

TF- DAB er eina Piper PA-16 Clipper vélin sem skáð hefur verið á Íslandi.

     Information in English:

The history of TF-DAB:

The aircraft that is now TF-DAB was produced in 1949 and registered as N5627H in the U.S. At the moment we know nothing about it´s history there. The aircraft was bought to Iceland by Jón Karl Snorrason, and was first registered to a syndicate headed by Snorri Bjarnvin Jónsson in 1999. In 2002 the aircraft was sold to Arni Gudmundsson, but flew very little in his ownership. In late summer 2008, the aircraft was bought by the Flying club KAKan and they started a restoration of the aircraft at their Tungubakkar hangar. The aircraft was registered to KAKan flying club in 2009 and made it´s first post restoration flight at the end of August.

TF-DAB is the only Piper PA-16 Clipper to have been registered in Iceland. 

A brief history of Piper Clipper aircraft:

The origin of the Piper PA-16 Cruiser can be traced back to 1938 when Piper started the production of what was essentially a new version of the Piper J-3 Cub with side by side seating, as opposed to the tandem configuration. The new version was called the Piper J-4 Cub Coupe and was mainly aimed at the training market, but did sell well with private pilots as well. Almost the only difference between the J-3 and the J-4 was the width of the fuselage, the J-4´s being wider to accommodate the side by side seating. Wings and tail group was the same on both models and the J-4 was sold with either a Continental A-65 or A-75 (65-75 horsepower) engines. The Cub Coupe was produced in about 1200 examples until 1942, when production stopped due to the Second World War.

After the end of the war, Piper found themselves in dire financial difficulties. The mainstay of their production, the Piper J-3, was by many buyers considered old fashioned and there were thousands of them for sale by the military and civilian flight schools, so very few new ones were selling. Piper´s main hope in the post war market, the PA-12 Super Cruiser, was not doing too well either, being something of a slow seller. On top of all that, the factory had huge stocks of material suited only to producing aircraft of similar construction.

To try and make the best of a difficult situation, the designers at Piper decided to take the relative success of the J-4 during the pre-war years and design a new aircraft on similar basis. The new aircraft was the Piper PA-15 Vagabond and even though it can trace it´s linage to the J-4 Cub Coupe, it was a completely new aircraft with very few interchangeable parts. The Vagabond was a two seater with side by side seating and during it´s construction Piper could use the considerable amount of material the had on stock, as it was built of tube covered by fabric. One the Vagabond, Piper introduced a new wing. Even though it still used the same wing profile as earlier models, the new wing was 6 feet (nearly 2 meters) shorter than previous Piper wings and the Vagabond was the first of a family of Pipers that are collectively known as the Short Wing Pipers. The Piper Vagabond first flew in 1947 and was put into production in 1948. It was produced for two years (1948-1949) and during that time about 600 examples were built, most of them delivered with a Lycoming O-145 engine of 65 horsepower. The Vagabond, and it´s spin offs, are generally credited with safeing Piper from bankruptcy.

During the development of the Vagabond, Piper designers were already developing a four seat variant of the aircraft. This aircraft was to become known as the Piper PA-16 Clipper. It was basically a stretched variant of the Vagabond, with a 17 inch (43 cm) lengthening of the cabin area to allow the installation of a bench seat behind the existing seats. The only other change to the basic airframe was the addition of a more powerful engine, in the form of a Lycoming O-235 of 108 horsepower. The new aircraft first flew in 1947, but was not put into production until 1949. It was only produced for about one year in 1949 before a more developed version, the Piper PA-20 Pacer was put into production. During this one year of production about 800 examples were produced.

TF-DAB is the only Piper PA-16 Clipper to have been registered in Iceland.

Smellið á myndina hér fyrir neðan til að skoða fleiri myndir af flugvélinni TF-DAB
Click on the picture to see a photogallery of this aircraft

Myndbönd með flugvélinni TF-DAB:
Myndbönd © Snorri B. Jónsson