The Piper PA-15 Vagabond and PA-17 Vagabond are both two-seat, high-wing, conventional gear light aircraft that were designed for personal use and for flight training and built by Piper Aircraft starting in 1948.
Development
The PA-15 was the first post-World War II Piper aircraft design. It utilized much of the same production tooling that created the famous Piper Cub, as well as many of the Cub structural components (tail surfaces, landing gear, most of the wing parts). The Vagabond has a wing that is one bay shorter ( versus ) than that on the Cub, which led to the unofficial term describing the type: Short Wing Piper. This allowed the aircraft to be built with minimal material, design and development costs, and is credited with saving Piper Aircraft from bankruptcy after the war.
The prototype PA-15 made its first flight on November 3, 1947, with deliveries of production aircraft beginning in January 1948.
Vagabonds used a new fuselage with side-by-side seating for two instead of the Cub's tandem seating. and 101 PA-17s registered in the USA.
There were 13 PA-15s and 12 PA-17s registered in Canada in March 2018.
Variants
thumb|right|1948 Piper PA-15 Vagabond at the [[Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum.]]
thumb|PA-17 interior
;PA-15 Vagabond
:Side-by-side two-seater powered by one Lycoming O-145 engine. 387 built, plus one converted from a PA-17.
;PA-17 Vagabond
:Also known as the Vagabond Trainer a variant of the PA-15 with dual-controls, shock-cord suspension and powered by one Continental A-65-8 engine.
Specifications (PA-15)
See also
- 1948 in aviation (first flight)
Related development:
- Piper Pacer
Comparable aircraft:
- Cessna 120/140
- RagWing RW11 Rag-A-Bond
- Wag-Aero Wag-a-Bond