Piper PA-48

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PA-48 Enforcer
Piper PA48 Enforcer USAF.jpg
Type: Counterinsurgency aircraft
Design country:

United StatesUnited States United States

Manufacturer:

Piper Aircraft

First flight:

April 29, 1971

Number of pieces:

4th

The Piper PA-48 Enforcer is a light fighter aircraft for close air support from the American manufacturer Piper Aircraft .

development and construction

Piper PA-48 Enforcer with US Air Force emblem

In 1968 David Lindsay, the founder of Cavalier Aircraft, began developing a counterinsurgency aircraft based on the Cavalier Mustang . First he built a dart engine from the British engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce into a Mustang II. This privately funded prototype was to be used for the same close air support and counterinsurgency missions for which the Mustang II was intended. The Turbo Mustang III had a radically increased performance as well as a larger payload and reduced maintenance requirements. It was fitted with Bristol ceramic armor to protect the engine , airframe and pilot. Despite massive efforts, neither the US military nor the armed forces of other countries bought the Turbo Mustang III.

In the search for a manufacturer with sufficient resources for series production , the Turbo Mustang III, renamed Enforcer, was sold to Piper Aircraft in the late 1970s . After Cavalier Aircraft was closed in 1971, Lindsay Piper supported the further development of the Enforcer. Piper leased a Lycoming T-55L-9 engine from the US Air Force and conducted about 200 hours of test flights.

In 1971 Piper built two Enforcers. For this, the Mustang's airframe was heavily modified by adding a Lycoming YT55-L-9A turboprop engine , among several other significant modifications . The so-called PE-1 with the registration N201PE was built as a single-seater, the PE-2 with the registration N202PE as a two-seater in tandem configuration .

Before it could be tested in counterinsurgency tests, the PE-2 was destroyed in a crash off the coast of Florida on July 12, 1971 due to fluttering, which was caused by an elevator trim modified by Piper . Although the Enforcer performed well in tests by US Air Force pilots in 1971 and 1972, Piper did not succeed in getting an order from the US Air Force.

In 1984, Piper built two more copies that were named PA-48 with US Congress funding of $ 12 million . These aircraft were also rated by the US Air Force, but only flown by Piper test pilots.

Piper PA-48 Enforcer at the National Museum of the US Air Force

During the following eight years, Lindsay and Piper campaigned repeatedly at the US Congress for an official reassessment of the PA-48 by the US Air Force. Finally, in 1979, $ 11.9 million was made available for the construction of two more prototypes and their evaluation by the US Air Force. Since the Enforcer was never officially part of the US Air Force, it was not given an official military designation. Instead, it kept the designation PA-48 and FAA IDs N481PE and N482PE.

The new PA-48 prototypes had less than a tenth in common with the P-51's original structure and were both longer and larger. Basically, the PA-48 Enforcer was a completely new aircraft.

In 1983 and 1984, the two PA- 48s were tested at Eglin Air Force Base , Florida and Edwards Air Force Base , California . As in 1971, the aircraft performed well in terms of their intended mission profiles. But this time too, the US Air Force decided against buying it.

Preserved copies

Two of the four prototypes still exist today.

Technical specifications

Parameter Data
crew 1
length 34.2  ft (10.4  m )
span 41.3 ft (12.6 m)
height 13.1 ft (4 m)
Wing area 245  ft² (23  m² )
Empty mass 7,200  lb (3,266  kg )
Max. Takeoff mass 14,000 lb (6,350 kg)
Cruising speed 253  mph (407  km / h )
Top speed 403 mph (649 km / h)
Service ceiling 25,000 ft (7,620 m)
Range 921  mi (1,482  km )
Engines 1 × Lycoming YT55- L-9 turboprop
Armament 2 × 30mm machine guns , MK-82 Snakeye , Bristol GRV-7 missiles, MK-20 Rockeye cluster bombs

See also

Web links

Commons : Piper PA-48  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Piper PA48 Enforcer. National Museum of the United States Air Force, accessed March 19, 2020 .
  2. ↑ PA-48 Restoration Completed. Friends of the Flight Test Museum, accessed March 19, 2020 .