About

Keep the Cub Flying

AMERICAN LEGEND Aircraft Company was founded expressly to develop a light-sport certified version of the venerable Piper Cub airplane. From the outset, it was determined that these beloved aircraft were so pure in their design and so honest in their handling that something must be done to keep them flying.

While many Piper Cubs remain viable today, there is a yearning within the flying community to continue to appreciate these great aircraft. What was great about the Piper Cub for the past 85 years is still great today.

Pilots understand that keeping these aircraft TRUE to the original is the only way to keep their widespread appreciation in check. So when the folks at American Legend set out to build a new Cub, they knew it must look and feel just like the ORIGINAL.

Upon surveying Cub owners of the past, the company determined that a few small changes would lead to a rebirth of the Cub. These changes would simply fix the peculiarities that pilots had become accustomed to.

A new Cub Rooted in it’s past

American Legend Aircraft Company set out to build and deliver new aircraft that closely resembled one of the GREATEST aircraft ever built. With the Cub design in the public domain, the company began its effort to build its newly named LEGEND Cub.

The Legend Cub uses the same basic airframe design as the Piper original with a few enhancements. Three inches were added to cabin width. This modification, along with removing the wing spars from the cabin head space and replacing them with x-bracing (like later model Cubs) improved structural integrity and enlarged the cockpit space.

Next in the list of fixes was to move the fuel tank from inside of the firewall to inside the wings. This significantly added to fuel capacity, but more importantly permitted solo flight from either seat due to a shift in the aircraft’s center of gravity.

Further fixes included an electrical system with starter, opening up worlds of possibilities with avionics, electronics, and radios. Another significant update, and unique to the Legend Cub, is the addition of a door/window combination on the left-hand side. The Legend Cub now possesses a truly OPEN COCKPIT FEEL as all doors and windows can remain open in flight.

Power to Spare

Low and slow is what makes a flying Cub so serene. It’s large wings give it HANDLING qualities that can only be described as Cub-like. It excels at slow flight and it begs to remain airborne with the slightest of winds. At a time when engines were small on power, the Cub seemed an adequate fit with its big wing. Today, engines of equal size and higher power can boost the Cubs PERFORMANCE envelope to large degree. The Legend Cub is never short on power, and often flies with POWER to spare. This allows it to run at low RPMs, lower fuel consumption and longer TBO, reducing the interval for servicing.