From Dan Moore's May 25, 2014, War Tales Blog.
Captain Johnson says the Piper Cub beat the Germans, saying that as a military plane it had no equal.It was an artillery spotter plane and "did more to defeat the German Army in World War II than any other American plane."
Air Force bombers flew over German cities and dropped their loads, but the Army's Piper Cibs spotted and charted German positions so American artillery was able to tear them up.
The little single-engine, fabric-covered, 65-horsepower plane could fly as low as 200 feet and as slow as 55 mph. It would then call in map coordinates
Johnson, a forward aerial observer, flew a L-4 Cub as part of the 12th Corps Artillery assigned to Patton's Army.
I also have heard that Piper Cubs helped turn the tide of the German U-boat campaign off the coast of the United States in 1942 with their submarine sightings and marking position.
--GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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