1952 Piper Super Cub

Description

There are airplanes you can replace.

And then there are airplanes you may never have the opportunity to own again....and Omaha Aircraft may never have the honor to represent again.

This 1952 Piper PA-18AS-125/160 Super Cub belongs firmly in the latter category.

It left the Piper factory in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania in 1952 as a PA-18A, built for agricultural use. Four years later, in 1956, an “S” was added to its designation, certifying the aircraft for seaplane use and creating something extraordinarily uncommon: the PA-18AS.

Of the thousands of PA-18s produced, only five carry the “AS” designation.

This is one of them.

Its story becomes even more remarkable from there.

The airplane has spent its entire life in Nebraska and recently emerged from a painstaking, more than three-year, nut-and-bolt restoration by Muhle Aviation Works in Columbus, Nebraska. From spinner to tail, the objective wasn't simply to restore a Super Cub. It was to do justice to an aircraft that cannot be replaced.

The original 125-horsepower configuration has been upgraded to 160 horsepower, and with its 2,000-pound gross weight increase, this PA-18AS possesses something unusual for an aircraft of this rarity: genuine working capability.

It could be placed into a collection and preserved as one of the rarest examples of the PA-18 lineage. Or it could go back to work today, supporting commercial operations much like the airplane was originally intended to do more than seven decades ago.

That duality may be what makes this airplane most compelling.

It is historically significant without being relegated to history. Exceptionally restored without becoming merely a showpiece. Rare enough for a serious collection, yet capable enough to earn its keep.

This is not simply a beautifully restored Super Cub. Its pedigree, condition, presentation, and scarcity place it in a category where meaningful comparisons become difficult.

There simply aren't enough of them.

For the collector who has seen exceptional airplanes, owned exceptional airplanes, and understands the difference between “nice” and truly irreplaceable, this PA-18AS deserves attention.

It is the kind of aircraft that becomes the centerpiece of a collection. The one people walk past everything else in the hangar to see. The one whose story begins before the engine ever starts.

Aircraft of this caliber aren't created by writing a check. Rarity cannot be ordered. History cannot be recreated. And another one cannot simply be found when you're ready.

There are five.

And this may very well be the finest of them.

Today's buyer can spend considerably more purchasing a newly manufactured premium utility taildragger. That will buy an exceptional new airplane.

It won't buy this airplane.

You can order another new airplane.

You cannot order another 1952 PA-18AS.

The opportunity isn't simply to buy a Super Cub.

It's to become the next caretaker of one of the rarest and most exceptional PA-18s in existence—and decide whether its next chapter will be spent working, collecting, or perhaps a little of both.