Talk:Piper J-3 Cub

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Piper J-3 Cub article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: 1

Military history: Aviation / North America / United States / World War II

This article is within the scope of the Military history WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.Military historyWikipedia:WikiProject Military historyTemplate:WikiProject Military historymilitary history articles

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

Associated task forces:
/
	Military aviation task force
	North American military history task force
	United States military history task force
	World War II task force

Aviation: Aircraft

This article is within the scope of the Aviation WikiProject. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the project and see lists of open tasks and task forces. To use this banner, please see the full instructions.AviationWikipedia:WikiProject AviationTemplate:WikiProject Aviationaviation articles

This article has been checked against the following criteria for B-class status:
Referencing and citation: criterion met Coverage and accuracy: criterion met Structure: criterion met Grammar and style: criterion met Supporting materials: criterion met

This article is supported by the aircraft project.

United States Mid‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Not enough emphasis on Cub's civil usage?

While the military history of the Piper J-3 Cub is certainly important and should be covered, I wonder if the article in its current form puts a little too much emphasis on this aspect and not enough on the aircraft's civil usage? After all, that was the Cub's main purpose. During most of its career, it was thought of as a really basic light training aircraft, not as an observation warbird. In particular, I notice that the military slant starts with the infobox picture by showing a version in World War II military colors. I'd think a photo of a standard yellow civil Cub would be more appropriate there. -- Colin Douglas Howell (talk) 06:32, 10 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The longer prose military coverage is understandable as there isn't much to say about a touring/training general aviation aircraft unless it was involved in something notable like setting a world record. The Piper PA-28 Cherokee article has no operational history section, probably for the same reason. One alternative would be to split the article, moving the military content into the redirect at Piper L-4 Grasshopper but this article is not large enough to be split on size alone and other editors would call for it to be merged back in to this J-3 article. The J-3 and L-4 are effectively the same aircraft type with different paint schemes. Nimbus (Cumulus nimbus floats by) 11:57, 10 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I think that the picture for this article should be changed.

The picture for this article; while really good, is of an L-4 Cub. I think that the picture can be misleading to people who click on the article, as the article name specifically says "Piper J-3 Cub". I do still think that the article should include pictures of the L-4, just not as the head picture (if that is the right term).

I would be happy to capture an image of a J-3 Cub if needed, although there are many available on Wikimedia Commons.

BenjaminWoolliscroft (talk) 02:28, 17 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I tend to agree that the lede image should be an actual civilian J-3. It was at one time, but was changed a while back. - Ahunt (talk) 14:35, 17 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The infobox name could be changed to J-3 Cub/L-4 Grasshopper, the latter name redirects here. It's commonly done when there are civilian and military variants that are mentioned in the lead (bolded in this case). There's probably more than one J-3 out there that has been converted to an L-4 by painting it green! Nimbus (Cumulus nimbus floats by) 15:05, 17 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]