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Piper soon got interested. After the company went bankrupt during the Depression, he poured in his oil money to keep it going, learned to fly. He insisted that the company build a smaller, less expensive plane, presided over the creation of the first Cub. Price: $1,325. In 1936 Piper bought out Taylor, had hardly got started when the company's factory was destroyed by fire. Though only 5% insured. Piper said stoically: "At least we'll getm some publicity out of it."
Borrowing money to start up again. Piper moved to an abandoned silk mill in Lock Haven, set up the Piper Aircraft Corp. Cub sales rose from 22 in 1931 to 687 in 1937, when Piper took over as the No. 1 U.S. light-plane maker. Piper got a tremendous boost from the war. More than 5,000 easily maneuverable Pipers served as reconnaissance, liaison and ambulance planes. They became known to G.I.s as "flying Jeeps" and to the Germans as "hell raisers" because bombing raids often followed their reconnaissance flights. Piper, like other small-plane makers, was shoved into the red after the war by the bust of the small-plane boom, but soon bounced back.
He expects the small plane to become ever more important for hops between small cities that the big airlines cannot service economically, feels that business has just begun to realize the time-and money-saving advantages of flying.
''We haven't seen anything yet," he says. "I never really should have gotten into this business. But I did—and I found my judgment was excellent,"