The original version of this aircraft, the single-engine high-wing monoplane PA-18 Super Cub, was powered by a 90 hp Continental C90-12F flat-four air-cooled engine and was first made available to the public in 1949. Following receipt of its type certificate on November 18, 1949, it proved an immediate success as a follow-on to the earlier Cub variants, though the effects of a lingering post-WWII recession almost certainly had an adverse impact on sales. The PA 18-105, powered by a 108 hp engine, was a significant penultimate variant of the standard first-generation Cub series, and offered (for the first time) flaps, greatly improved cruising and maximum speeds, and increased payload. Between 1949 and completion of the last Piper-built aircraft in 1981, the PA-18 appeared in progressively improved variants and was steadily uprated in horsepower. Not surprisingly, in its final Piper production version, as the PA-18-150, its basic configuration had actually changed little from that of the original Cub built in the 1930s. A braced, high-wing monoplane construction was primarily steel tube for the fuselage and wood and aluminum for the wing . . . all with fabric covering. Total production was approximately 2,650 aircraft with another 1,530 or so being sold for military use.

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