2194days

Aircraft · United States · 1941-1945

Piper L-4 Grasshopper

liaison and observation aircraft

A lightly militarized version of the civilian Piper Cub, the unarmed Grasshopper carried artillery observers low and slow over the front lines to spot targets for the guns, and served as a battlefield taxi for generals. A handful of pilots improvised bazooka racks under the wings and used them to hunt German tanks in Normandy, earning the type an unlikely footnote as a makeshift tank-killer.

Wikipedia

crew2
top speed137 km/h
armamentunarmed (improvised bazookas in rare cases)
produced5,671

Western Europe, Mediterranean and North Africa, Pacific

Gelbe Piper PA-18 Super Cub über dem Flugplatz Uetersen
Gelbe Piper PA-18 Super Cub über dem Flugplatz UetersenHuhu Uet · CC BY 3.0 · source
1944 Piper Cub J-3C-65 HB-OUE with rare Rolls Royce O-200A 100hp engine. Flugplatz Fricktal Schupfart aerodrome LSZI, Switzerland.
1944 Piper Cub J-3C-65 HB-OUE with rare Rolls Royce O-200A 100hp engine. Flugplatz Fricktal Schupfart aerodrome LSZI, Switzerland.dr. rudolf kuepper · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Piper J-3C-65 HB-OUE with rare Rolls Royce O-200A 100hp engine. s/n 12315. Flugplatz Fricktal Schupfart aerodrome LSZI, Switzerland. Engine is handpropped.
Piper J-3C-65 HB-OUE with rare Rolls Royce O-200A 100hp engine. s/n 12315. Flugplatz Fricktal Schupfart aerodrome LSZI, Switzerland. Engine is handpropped.dr. rudolf kuepper · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source