Piper TwinCub - $$4.95
This odd little aircraft was actually built, flown, photographed, raved about, and then returned to it^s original TWO Cub configuration. Makes one want to ask ..why? Have at it!
Wagner Twin Cub Oddity
The Twin Cub was the brainchild of Mr. Harold Wagner of the Wagner
Aircraft Co. at Troh's Skyport, Portland, Oregon. He wanted to
create a simple and cheap twin engine SUV type aircraft and started
experimenting with a PA18 Super Cub which he equipped with a second
engine on top of the fuselage. The sports utility aircraft made
its first flight on May 29, 1952 but tail flutter caused by the
down thrust of the extra power plant meant that the Twin Super Cub
project had to be ended prematurely after only 8 hrs of flight
time, after which the Super Cub was returned to stock configuration.
Wagner Twin Cub:
Mr. Wagner's second attempt produced an even uglier machine, called
the Twin Cub. It consisted of a J-3 Cub and a PA-11 Cub Coupe
fuselage mounted side-by-side using a small wing center section
and central tail plane. The outer wing panels and tail plane were
standard components. The resulting aircraft looked so odd that
even Mr.Wagner called it "The Thing". Because of the
close proximity of the fuselages, only the right hand one could
be occupied by a pilot and passenger, the left hand fuselage serving
only the purpose of engine mounting.
No propeller synchronizing was envisaged, the props rotating in different planes instead, to prevent hitting each other. This was accomplished by a 'distance piece' on the left engine/prop combination. It is claimed that flight qualities were just great, even with one engine out. One wonders, however, with all that prop wash interference.
Even though the purchase price was said to be about half of a regular twin engine aircraft, the Twin Cub remained a one-off and Mr. Wagner turned his attention to the Twin Tri-Pacer, where he bolted two engines to the nose of an otherwise standard Piper PA-22 Tri-Pacer.
None of the Wagner conversions achieved commercial success and both the Twin Cub and Twin Tri-Pacer returned to standard configuration.
Guido Van Roy, Langdorp, Belgium sends in this curious little
model for us all to enjoy and chuckle over.
Basically, it's a spin-off of our free
Piper Cub model that gets downloaded about 375 times every
day!!
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Thanks to Guido Van Roy for the
design and made up model.(right) |
Here are a few more TWIN FUSELAGE aircraft.....
 An early (1929) variant, a design study aircraft from Jack Northrop, leading to his N9MB, XB-35, and YB-49 Flying Wings |
 The FW 189 Uhu (Owl), known as the "The Flying Eye", an elegant reconnaissance plane, apparently specially designed for aerial photography |
 The "Confederate Air Force" in Harlingen, Texas, actually has a Twin Mustang |
 The He-111Z "Zwilling" ("Twin") and had an extra (fifth) engine tucked into the mid-span wing juncture. This was the tow plane to pull the Gigant glider. |
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 The classic P-38 Lightning, known to all |
