The Piper Pawnee was designed and built for agricultural spraying and crop dusting. The wings were cranked to get the spray bars running along the trailing edge as close to the crops as possible. The pilot was given an excellent view from a cockpit placed high on the fuselage of the low-wing monoplane. The fuselage was designed to protect the pilot, with the cockpit being designed as a strong capsule that would remain undamaged even in a slow-speed crashes associated with spraying. The undercarriage was also designed to be very strong and specialized struts helped absorb the rough takeoffs and landings that occurred on dirt roads of the farms. Because the potential for contamination by toxic chemicals was great, the cockpit ventilation system was reconfigured so the air intake was high enough to avoid spray fallout and the entire top section of the fuselage could be removed for quickly and easily for cleaning. The Piper Pawnee was, and remains, a very strong and purpose-built workhorse now regarded as a classic. Many Pawnees have nowadays found their way glider airfields where they are very popular as glider tugs due to their good power-to-weight ratio.
Just as Piper designed a purpose-built airplane, Hangar 9 has put a tremendous amount of thought into the Piper Pawnee 40 ARF. Created with the scale enthusiast in mind, this almost-ready-to-fly airplane replicates the scale outline of its full-scale counterpart with accuracy. From the aluminum struts, wheels and tires to the scale flap locations, the Piper Pawnee is packed with scale details, including the detailed cockpit complete with a detailed instrument panel. The .40-size Piper Pawnee ARF can be powered for performance using a variety of 2- or 4-stroke glow engines, or converted to electric power for clean, no-fuss flying.
So the next time you’re headed out to the flying field, be sure to bring a little piece of history with you. Its extremely gentle flight characteristics make it perfect for inexperienced to moderately experienced pilots and is sure to get everyone talking about it at the field.
