Piper Aztec query

There’s a blast from the past. I’d forgotten about this thread…..

We are looking to get rid of the Aztec… She’ll need new undercarriage seals and one of the engines is about due for overhaul. Other than that, she hasn’t been touched since we bought her. We’ve got all of her documents.

The data plate referred to is not obvious and could have been removed by its previous owner. PM sent Dreadnaught…

Built in 1960 as the predecessor to the Apache.

Surely the Apache came first, being derived from the Twin Stinson of the early 50s?

When Piper purchased the assets of the Stinson Division of Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation in 1948, one of the proposed designs was the Twin Stinson that was to be a modification of the popular Stinson 108 Voyager/Station-Wagon. In 1952 Piper decided to build the Twin Stinson as a light twin-engined executive airplane. The experimental prototype, the Model 23-1, was a four-place, steel tube-and-fabric, low-wing airplane with a fixed tricycle landing gear and a twin tail. It was powered by two 125 hp Lycoming O-290D engines. Flight tests in 1952 indicated that the airplane was under-powered and had some control response and vibration problems. Correction of these difficulties resulted in the complete redesign of the airplane, including all-metal construction, a single vertical fin, retractable landing gear, and 150 hp Lycoming 0-320-A engines with constant speed propellers. Completed in July 1953, it was renamed the PA-23 Apache and was the first of the Piper “Indians,” when Piper began naming its various aircraft after Indian tribes.. .. .And over the years they changed buggah all.

http://www.stinsonflyer.com/avphoto/tstn-02.jpg

Planemike

AZTEC A

This was my for sale sign. After 5 years of ownership and over 500 hrs flying, it was time to say goodbye!! A Very Sad Day:(

FOR SALE

Piper Aztec “A” ser. 27-134 G-ASND

The last Airworthy Aztec “A” left flying in Europe!!
Built in 1960 as the predecessor to the Apache.
US Navy Test Aircraft in 1962 (UO-1).
Big Reliable 250hp Lycoming O-540-A1D5.
A True SIX Seater with a Good Useful load.
C of A Due June 2003.
Fresh Annual with all AD’s Complied with.
Fresh Notice 75 on Props. Next Due 2005.
Heater Overhauled (Notice 41) Next Due 2004.
All Flexible Hoses Pressure Tested or Replaced. Next due 2005/2008.
All Undercarriage and Brakes Completely Rebuilt.

TOTAL TIME AIRFRAME:5312
LEFT ENGINE:1819
RIGHT ENGINE:337
LEFT AND RIGHT PROPS:318

Piper Aztec “A”

JT442, if you would like to know anything about your aircraft, why not contact a previous owner who can tell you stories and show you many different pictures including one in US Navy Colours??
It Is A Piper Aztec “A”. Built in 1960 as a US Navy Prototype/Demonstrator. These are facts and I should know……….G-ASND was my aircraft for over 5 years and I was both the owner/operator and engineer. I can tell you all about the history of the aircraft and I even have a whole bunch of spare parts for it here at home in England!! I left a data plate in the back end of the aircraft which is out of sight, in the hope that one day I would be contacted by the new owners and eventually see her again! Have you found it yet??

Please feel free to contact me anytime to discuss the most awesome Aztec ever built.
Best regards
James

It probably doesn’t move your search forward any, but construction number 27-134 was not among the 20 Aztecs purchased in the early 60’s, so at a guess it may well have remained a company demonstrator and was never painted in USN colours?

http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/thirdseries18.html

USN serial number sequence 149050 to 149069

Noted as the UO-1 test aircraft.

http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1021327/

G-ASND sounds like a PA23 Apache we had at White Waltham back in the 70s. A snub-nosed Aztec with less powerful engines. Blue cheat line.

Did I say 73LW? I meant N37LW… doh! Permit would have lapsed two years ago.

The documentation we have for the aircraft starts in 1963, and lists it’s hours only as a total ‘carried forward from FAA documentation’ and it is the time before 1963 which I am interested in. There are traces of various modifications , particularly equipment rack mounts immediately behind the cabin which apparently came from its US Navy days – it was certainly on-strength with the USN for a period, perhaps as you say, as a company demonstrator rather than a prototype.

It came to the UK in 1963 – http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/HistoricalMaterial/G-ASND-1.pdf.

So there were 3 years between manufacture and UK registration as G_ASND.

It’s possible that the CAA registration dept may have a record of a former identity, but it’s not listed on that document.

I’m not sure whey there would have been a prototype UO-1 since it was bought “off the shelf”.

Perhaps it was the one evaluated by the USN (a sales demonstrator if you will).
Today, a manufacturer would paint it in faux military markings for the eval, back then, probably not. I base that guess on photos I’ve seen of other GA-types during military trials and evaluations.

Did a quick search, sorry, didn’t come up with anything.
BTW: N73LW was last issued to a Twin Comamche, now exported to Canada.

There is a Piper heritage museum in Lock Haven, I understand they have a lot of factory files, they might have something.

You could always acquire one and have it on loan at a suitable aircraft museum with the proviso of swapping parts as needed -G-ATFF readily springs to mind.

We are only after small parts and have no where to store a complete and dead aztec…

Lindy – I would have thought the easiest way would be to acquire another Aztec which is out of ticket. I shouldn’t imagine that a non flyer is worth much.