during the 1930s, with the
Piper Cub logo superimposed at the top . Built 1958. The company was founded as the Taylor Brothers Aircraft Manufacturing Company in September 1927 by brothers
Clarence G. Taylor and Gordon A. Taylor in
Rochester, New York. The company was renamed Taylor Brothers Aircraft Corporation in April 1928, shortly before Gordon Taylor died in an aircraft accident flying one of the brothers' own designs, a
Taylor Chummy, on April 24, 1928. The company was enticed to move to
Bradford, Pennsylvania, with the promise of a larger facility and investment capital from local businessmen, including an initial investment of $400 from local oil industry engineer
William T. Piper. The move was completed in September 1929.
1930s In late 1930, the company filed for
bankruptcy and William T. Piper purchased the assets of the company for $761. This aircraft was the
E-2 Cub.
1940s The company experienced a strike in June 1941, when employees stopped work to demand higher wages. Piper continued operations in Lock Haven throughout World War II, building military versions of its
J-3 Cub as the L-4 Grasshopper. A total of 5,941 powered aircraft were built by the company for the US armed forces during the war, as well as training
gliders, and aircraft components for other manufacturers, but its main contribution to the war effort was in the fabrication of steel masts for mounting
radar antennas. In 1946, the company opened a new factory in
Ponca City, Oklahoma, and transferred production of the Cub from Lock Haven. That year, Piper led the American industry in light aircraft production. Almost 7,800 of the 35,000 civil aircraft built in the United States that year were Pipers, but a strike led to a shortage of steel tubing, interrupting production, and 1,900 workers had to be suspended as a result. The following year, the postwar
general aviation boom ended. This led to a downfall for the company. Piper's output reached 3,500 aircraft, less than half its 1946 total, and the company suffered an operating loss of more than $560,000. The board of directors replaced William Piper with William Shriver, a former
Chrysler executive. In 1948, with two thirds of its workforce laid off, Piper only lost $75,000, but it found itself no longer the leader in a shrinking market, falling behind Cessna, which itself only delivered 1,600 aircraft; the Ponca City factory was closed.
1950s The outbreak of the
Korean War in 1950 helped to stimulate production at Piper, which again won large orders for military versions of the Cub.
1960s In 1960, the line of Piper aircraft consisted of agricultural and two-passenger variants of the Super Cub, the
Caribbean, Colt and Tri-Pacer, two versions of the
PA-24 Comanche, the Pawnee, the Apache and its new larger derivative the
Aztec. The following year, the
PA-28 Cherokee was the first type to enter production at the new Vero Beach factory. The Cherokee replaced the Tri-Pacer and Colt, which ended their production runs in 1961 and 1964 respectively. In 1963, Piper supported
Betty Miller's successful attempt to be the first female pilot to fly solo across the
Pacific Ocean, during which she delivered a twin-engine Piper aircraft from Oakland, California, USA to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In September 1964, Piper flew the prototype of its new
PA-31 Navajo cabin-class twin for the first time, after two-and-a-half years of development. In 1969, the Piper family agreed to sell Piper Aircraft to the
Bangor Punta Corporation, which started an eight-year court battle with the losing bidder,
Chris-Craft Industries, culminating in a
Supreme Court decision in 1977.
1970s Piper discussed a merger with
Swearingen but the deal was not completed. The Lock Haven facility was nearly destroyed in 1972 when torrential rains from
Hurricane Agnes caused the
Susquehanna River to flood in June. The manufacturing plant was flooded to a depth of , effectively destroying about 100 aircraft and causing an estimated $23 million in damage. Much of the tooling necessary for production of several designs, including the Aztec, Navajo, and Comanche, was also destroyed, and the
Piper PA-31T Cheyenne program received a setback when the prototype was damaged just after the
Federal Aviation Administration awarded it
Type Certification. Initial deliveries of the new
PA-31-350 Chieftain were also delayed by several months. After the flood, Piper gave 32 written-off PA-28s, PA-31s and PA-23 Aztecs to
NASA, which used them for
crash tests at the
Langley Research Center, using a rig originally built to simulate spacecraft landings on the moon for the
Apollo program. As a result of the flood, and market factors, the company decided to end production of the
Comanche and
Twin Comanche. Piper opened a manufacturing division in
Lakeland, Florida, in 1972 and through the 1970s, the
Piper PA-31 Navajo, Chieftain, and
Cheyenne III were manufactured at the more than facility on the Lakeland municipal airport. In 1984, Piper changed hands when parent company Bangor Punta was acquired by Lear Siegler which, in turn, was acquired by Forstmann Little in 1986. Forstmann Little then sold Piper to
M. Stuart Millar in 1987. Manufacture of light aircraft was impacted in the mid-1980s when increasing product liability insurance premiums made operation financially difficult for Piper and other American manufacturers of light aircraft. In a bid to improve sales, Piper cut prices for its aircraft and the company became unprofitable. In 1991 the Lakeland, Florida factory was sold and closed and by July that year the workforce had shrunk to 45; with only $1,000 in available cash remaining, Piper filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a proposed takeover by competing French manufacturer
Socata failed over the issue of product liability. Production of the flagship Cheyenne 400 ended in February 1993 with only 43 being built since its inception a decade earlier. In 1995, the company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and was renamed
New Piper Aircraft. As part of the end of bankruptcy protection, the company was sold to Newco Pac Inc., itself owned by Piper's creditors (including major creditor, aircraft engine manufacturer
Teledyne Continental Motors) and a Philadelphia-based investment firm.
2000s In July 2003, American Capital Strategies, Ltd. bought 94% of Piper's voting equity. In July 2006, a partnership with
Honda was announced to market the new
HA-420 HondaJet. The following month, the firm dropped the "New" from its name, reverting to
Piper Aircraft. In response to the
late 2000s recession, the company announced in November 2008 that it was reducing its work-week to save money while avoiding lay-offs. Piper is party to an agreement with the state of
Florida that will see the company benefit from $32 million in incentives in exchange for increasing its work force to 1400 people and building the PiperJet in the state. In December 2008, the company announced it would defer the $10 million incentive that required hiring 400 new workers by 2012 for the PiperJet project and retain 1,417 employees through 2015. The company stated the move was precautionary. Piper spokesman Mark Miller said: "While this year has been a good one for Piper, we have taken measures to keep the company healthy and to weather any future adversity." In February 2009, the company announced it was laying off an additional 300 workers without notice immediately and the 650 remaining workers would be given unpaid weeks off in April and July to reduce unsold inventory. Piper spokesman Mark Miller stated company regretted the pain caused by the layoffs and indicated the employees would be rehired when the economy improves. He also said: "Even the willing buyers that we have find it incredibly difficult to get financing...We can't keep a full workforce on at this point when people aren't buying planes...If market conditions continue to deteriorate, it may be necessary for the company to take additional actions". On 24 February 2009, the company announced it would add two more weeks of unpaid furlough for its employees in May and June, bringing the total to four weeks in 2009, citing a need to reduce inventory and cut expenses. In June 2010, the company announced it would shut down for a further week in August to save money. The lay-off affected all workers except those on the PiperJet program and some critical company business functions. On 1 May 2009, American Capital Strategies sold the company to
Singapore-based investment strategy company
Imprimis, making a profit of US$31 million on the sale. Imprimis is funded by the
Government of Brunei and has offices in
Bangkok, Singapore and
Brunei Darussalam. In June 2009, James Bass, CEO of Piper Aircraft since 2005, announced he would step down effective that same month. He was succeeded by VP of operations Kevin Gould. During his four years at Piper, Bass oversaw development of the
PiperJet, the
Meridian G1000 and the
Matrix, and negotiated a new business partnership with Honda. He also negotiated $32 million in incentives from the state and county that retained Piper's factory in Vero Beach, Florida. On 2 November 2009, company president John Becker announced his resignation effective 1 December 2009 "to pursue other career opportunities". Becker was replaced as president by CEO Kevin Gould.
2010s On 4 January 2010, the company announced
Boeing subsidiary Aviall would act as Piper's sole global parts distributor. In September 2010, Piper announced the lay-off of an additional 60 production workers. Piper's interim CEO Geoffrey Berger stated: "Piper remains challenged by overall market weakness". The company hired 140 workers for the PiperJet program in 2009–10. Piper started renovation of a factory in Vero Beach in October 2010, with a completion goal of 2011. The facility was intended to be used to build the PiperJet. On 17 October 2011, the company announced Simon Caldecott had replaced Geoff Berger as interim CEO. At the same time, executive vice president Randy Groom also resigned from the company and it was announced that the
Piper Altaire program was "under review". Only one week later, on 24 October 2011, Piper Aircraft announced it had "indefinitely suspended" all work on the Altaire project and would be laying off 150 of its 850 employees, plus 55 contract workers, due to the program's cancellation. In December 2011, Piper announced it was attempting to renegotiate the 2008 deal it had made with the state of Florida and Indian River County for incentives. The company did not meet its contractual requirements to employ 1,100 people by the end of 2009; instead, employment fell to 600, and as a result, the company owed US$1.5 million. Piper is looking for forgiveness of the debt. Also in December, Piper came under the direct ownership of the government of Brunei. In July 2015 the company announced it was laying off 15-20% of its workers, about 150 people, as sales were faltering amongst world markets, especially Asia, Latin America and Europe. In February 2018, Piper announced the largest order of trainer aircraft in the company's history.
Fanmei Aviation Technologies, which is Piper's exclusive dealer in China, placed an order for 152 aircraft. The deliveries will take place over a period of seven years. In April 2019 an even bigger order was announced:
L3 Commercial Aviation will take delivery up to 240 new aircraft over the next 10 years. The order will consist of single-engine
Piper Archers and twin-engine
Piper Seminoles.
2020s In March 2021, CEO Simon Caldecott announced that he would retire in April 2021. CFO John Calcagno assumed the role of president and CEO in April 2021. In February 2024, Piper introduced a brand new aircraft, the M700 Fury. This aircraft had been secretly developed over the course of the past two years, and was a pleasant surprise to the aviation community. In October 2024, the Piper M700 FURY, a high-performance single-engine aircraft by Piper Aircraft, received type certification from several aviation authorities: the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Brazil’s Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC), and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) of Australia. The certification encompasses flight approvals in known icing conditions and for operation on unpaved surfaces, enhancing the M700 FURY’s operational versatility. Deliveries for customers in Europe, Brazil, and Australia are set to begin by the end of October 2024, following this milestone certification. ==Aircraft==