Customer Reviews

Cubs On The Loose: Old Airplanes - New Adventures

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I loved this nonfiction book, and so will you if the bygone, barnstorming era of rag-and-tube planes interests you. In the 1990s a pack of J-3 Piper Cubs piloted by a sundry assortment of "humanoids," including a retired Pan Am airline captain, roamed the eastern US and found adventure at every corner.

This book describes their odysseys, but what makes it especially captivating is the narrator, a 1946 Cub identified as NC-87881, one of the pack. She tells the story to her owner, pilot/author Lyle Wheeler whom she calls a humanoid. She and her sister Cubs poke fun at present-day aircraft, such as a "snooty little" Cessna 150, and sometimes moan about their owner's flying skills.

A great read and highly recommended.

While visiting the Piper Museum in Lockhaven Pa. the woman at the desk for that day and I were discussing Mr. Piper. She mentioned that she had been trying to find that particular book and was having difficulties. When I found it at Amazon.com I knew right away what I had to do.

The transaction was great, Reasonable price and shipping, Very fast and well packed.

We old-time tail-dragger pilots cannot pass a J-3 Cub without looking it over. If you have not flown in one, you should, just to appreciate the machine. Wheeler has put together a nostalgic story told by the Cubs themselves with their pilots referred to as "humanoids". The story involves the kind of flying we all dream about; namely, flying from grass field to grass field, camping under the wing, and doing it again the next day. Many humorous flying situations are told to the reader, with the "humanoids" often taking the brunt of the humor. Modern pilots who fly with "glass" instrument panels and funny-looking individual landing wheels on the front of their aircraft may not appreciate the tale, but those pilots who have been trained in slow tail-draggers will enjoy it.