Piper J-3 Cub

The Museum’s Cub is actually a Piper J-3 built for the civil market. We believe the aircraft supported Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) efforts early in its career. The US government created the CPTP in 1938; it allowed some 20,000 college students per year to receive 35 – 50 hours of flight instruction. Many of these same students helped form the core of US military flight training efforts when America entered WWII. 

The inclusion of Tuskegee University, Hampton University and Virginia State University, along with others in this program, first opened the doors for many African Americans to become pilots, serving as the foundation for the military training programs which later emerged. 

Cubs also formed the backbone of the Civil Air Patrol, flying short-range surveillance missions off the US coast to help spot submarines or sailors in distress. 

Glimpy: In 1944, tests were conducted at Naval Air Station Lakehurst in New Jersey to verify whether light aircraft could be launched from U.S. Navy blimps. These Cubs were modified with a mechanism mounted atop their wings which allowed them to hook onto an apparatus slung beneath the blimp as it went on patrol. This allowed a Cub’s pilot to release the aircraft from the blimp so he could fly reconnaissance photographs or other important material back to base while the blimp continued its mission. Unlike similar airship/airplane combination efforts, the Cub was unable to reattach itself to the blimp once it had  launched; such procedures could only occur with both craft on the ground back at base.