Poll: Classic Taildragger - Cub vs Champ vs T-Craft
Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 09:54PM 
Piper J-3 Cub (photo: mvonraesfeld on flickr)
Aeronca 7AC Champ (photo: jwm1049 on flickr)
Taylorcraft BC12D (photo: davemacvac on flickr)
When I was a teen in the 70's there were three good ole taildraggers that pretty much defined the post-war 2-seater for low and slow cheap flying. There was the Piper J-3 Cub, the Aeronca 7AC Champ, and the Taylorcraft BC12D.
So I wondered if someone offered to give you one of the three, which would you choose? Would you take the iconic Cub with its fly-with-the-door-open capability, or maybe the all around great little flying machine known as the Champ, or would you choose to go fast and cozy in the side by side T-Craft?
It's an easy choice for me. The Cub is my pick because of the easy ability to open the door while flying, and I also love flying solo from the back seat. All my Cub time (from 30 years ago) was in a clipped wing Cub, so if someone gave me a Cub, I'd play with it for about 10 hours of flying and then I'd chop those wings down and trade the 65hp for a 90hp and be back in the CWC buisness : )
Vote below to let me (and the world) know which you'd choose...
Reader Comments (20)
I vote for all three! Don't make me choose! lol
The Champ, only because that's what I soloed in and my legs are too long for a Cub . : )
I picked the Champ only because it's easier for me to get in/out of.
Tough choice, but you can't go wrong with wanting an open door in-flight! Must be absolutely fantastic!
FYI. Gang
EAA Chapter 82 Grassroots Fly-In
July 5-8 (Thursday - Sunday noon)
Barber Airport (2D1) Alliance, OH
Fly-In Breakfast on Saturday and Sunday at 7AM.
This will be the 76th Year of Taylorcraft in Alliance.
Ryan Newell and David Whitaker, along with Doug Taylor, Brian Matz, Forrest Barber and all of their families will be here to meet and greet the arrivals.
Many special forums are planned and there will be an Old Factory tour on Saturday if there is enough interest.
Movie Theater wiil be set up with a new Media projector running many loops of Aviation stuff.
This is also the 75th Anniversary of the Piper Cub.
The oldest E-2 "Taylor Cub", Serial #25 will be here.
Other designs of C.G. Taylor will be featured including the "Taylor-Bird"
AirPigz Lurker - thanx for the info on the Alliance Ohio Fly-In... I might try to work that one in myself if possible : )
^Ditto ^
Concerning the Champ / Cub tie... WOOT !!
Well, while I voted for the T-craft, which is the airplane I would want if I was going to KEEP it, the smart choice would be the Cub....Because you could SELL the cub and have lifetime operating expenses for the T-craft!
Aeronca's Rule
We have a 90 hp Champ 7EC, a 75 hp Taylor-Young BC-65, and a 65 hp Taylorcraft BC12D. I have flown Cubs 65 hp thru 90 hp. I have probably the most time in Champs 65 and 90 hp. Now I fly the BC12D most often. All three types are unique and fun in their own right. No doubt I will never forget taking my son for his first Cub ride with the door open. We had a blast. And, I can't even count how many people I've flown for their first ever airplane flight in Champs... a truly great buddy-ride airplane.
But I will always vote for the Taylorcraft. Learning to fly in a T-craft will make you a sharpened pilot, testing your skill but as forgiving as they come. My wife prefers the side-by-side seating, which is a real plus in pilot training too. The stock baggage provisions are roughly the same for all three airplanes. Maintenance is also too similar to squabble over. Flying technique is slightly different for each one, but only the Taylorcraft stands out to me as having both slow flight capabilities and reasonably quick cruise performance. On-step you can routinely plan on a solid 95 mph at 3.5 gph., either in our BC-65 or the BC12D. You cannot do that in a Cub or a Champ.
Many people think Taylorcrafts are not for Tall people. But I do know several guys past 6 ' 3 " who really like their Taylorcrafts. I think those who found the Tcraft a poor fit probably did not realize that the sling seat can be adjusted for tall folks too.
And if you think a Tcraft is not versatile, you should check out some of the Alaska tundra flying Taylorcrafts on Youtube. With some very simple mods and a C85, you can even have 1500 pound Gross weight (a payload of around 700 pounds) and scoot along at 105 mph. You can't do that in a Cub or a Champ.
I voted for the taylorcraft as i own one and sincerely love it they are very capable of STOL work and also get you there fast with the new C85 110 mph is easy to do and with a set of vortex generators stall at 32 mph champ or chief or j3 will not do 110 mph and i am not sure of the stall speed of them but i do know what my tcraft will do it will run with or even pass 180 hp supper cubs at cruse and with bush wheels go were they can and with the c85 get up and climb well in 150 ft
I owned and loved a sweet, yellow 1940 J-3 for a couple of years. There was nothing like cruising along on a warm summer's evening—low and slow in her back seat with the door and window wide open. Unless it was hand propping. It felt like I was preserving a lost art. I loved everything about that plane—her lines, her character, her smell.
Alas, a friendly old airplane doesn't always fit in with a new family on a limited budget. But I have some great memories of giving kids their first rides and perfect landings (on sod, of course) in my little J-3.
I'd go back in a minute. I vote J-3.
I voted for the Cub because the question was if someone were to GIVE you one of these airplanes and the Cubs, rightfully or not, go for nearly twice what the Champs do. Besides, I already own a 90 hp 7EC Champ.
Most people my age learned to fly in either a Cub or a Champ and are ingrained with an unflappable loyalty. I learned in a J3 and never much cared for Champs but as the years went by it eventually got to the point where you had to own a J3 to fly one because there simply were no rentals available. There always have been plenty of Citabrias however and I put a lot of hours in the various models. Then one day this absolutely smoking deal came up on a 1958 7EC and I couldn't pass it up.
So, over the past three years I've been a Champ owner and it has grown on me. No, it doesn't fly like a Cub but only because it's not a Cub, not because it's not as capable or as much fun. I just got home from a 17 hour round trip flight from California to Utah and back - something I probably wouldn't even have done in a Cub, at least not a 65 hp J3.
The bottom line is that if anyone were to offer to give me any of these airplanes I wouldn't turn them down, all of them are an absolute blast to fly around in. There's no "slam dunk" in this contest but I have to add that, as much as I love them, there is NO WAY I would pay $35,000 for a Cub. I know someone will but not me.
My buddy has a 100hp super cub, its quite cool. The performance is identical to my 65hp TCrate, cruise. climb, baggage, but the TCrate does it on 3.5gph
OK - All are VERY great and classic airplanes. But C'mon...the Cub wins! Champ is kind of an underpowered bathtub. All the wrong lines. T-Craft is nice, but I just have a thing for tandem, and flying from the back seat (J-3 Cub, of course!). No Super-, no electrical system, no lights, no radios, no transponder, just flying along the Chicago skyline, on the Lake side.
I vote for the Champ, not just because it is a fantastic airplane, and not because I have great memories flying in the back seat of one with my dad, but because someone did in fact give one to me!
The gentleman that taught me to fly and to appreciate ragwing taildraggers was suffering from terminal cancer 3 years ago. He and his wife asked me to their home one day and handed me a box of books and pictures from when he did the restoration of the Champ in 1996. They said they thought I'd enjoy looking at them. As I was looking through the box I heard my friend say something. When I turned around to ask what it was he said, he handed me a piece of paper. When I asked him what it was, with teary eyes and a trembling voice he said, "This is a Bill Of Sale, I want you to have my Champ". He knew how I felt about the airplane and he always trusted me to fly it, so he knew it would have a good home and be treated very well. I couldn't say anything so I just gave him a hug. We both shed some tears but he was genuinely happy for me to have his beloved Aeronca. My friend passed away 01/06/2011 but 02/14/2010 will be a day I will never forget!
Mike
NC83241
Mike Kay - wow, thank you for sharing that wonderful story!
Honestly, having flown all three with students and personally, I believe that the Taylorcraft is the best of the bunch.
Champ hands down although I will admit a T-craft outfitted with a c-85 that has a 100hp conversion climbs like a homesick angel ...thanks Bob for letting me fly in her. So back to it how anyone can look at a champ and say her lines are not right ...well I guess there is no accounting for taste but I will say in my opinion the one thing the j-3 has on a Champ was marketing that little brown bear sold a many of aircraft and is sill doing it. I love all three on the list and have been very privileged to have flown in some of the finest J3 and L4 birds out there but I would rather neuter a bull with a butter knife than to try and get in or out of the front seat of one..no sir soloed a champ and still flying her (thanks Jim) ...it's a champ all day everyday for this airpirate. I'm just sayin!!!!! N81979
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