WORTH A SECOND GLANCE
PRIZE
PIPER
This
particular issue from 1940 s publisher Real Photographs Ltd of Liverpool was
strictly not a postcard, being plain backed but may well have also been
published in PC style
The
subject is a US registered Piper J3 Cub but with RAF markings, shown over a rail
marshalling yard somewhere in North America. Just visible on the side is the
text Royal Air Force followed by two words, one long and one short.
My best
guess was “Development Flight” assuming that this Cub was under evaluation,
sometime 1939-41. The facts are actually more interesting – some Web research came
up with the following.
Firstly
this Cub still exists and has been repainted in these colours in the North
Carolina Air Museum Asheboro NC.
It was
originally donated by Bill Piper, founder of the company to be raffled in aid of
the RAF Benevolent Fund, which is what the side lettering actually says.
Not only that but Piper dealers throughout the US were encouraged
to donate further examples so eventually a squadron of 49 Cubs was
assembled, one per state plus NC1776. They
were collectively known as the “Flitfire Cubs”. The full set was displayed
at New York, La Guardia in April 1941, all in the colours as shown and all but
NC1776 named for a State.
Originally
won by a New Yorker, Jack Kindler, NC1776 was used on the civilian flight
training program during WW2 and was at flown by Orville
Wright in 1943.