Talk:Piper J-3 Cub

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Not enough emphasis on Cub's civil usage?[edit]

While the military history of the Piper J-3 Cub is certainly important and should be covered, I wonder if the article in its current form puts a little too much emphasis on this aspect and not enough on the aircraft's civil usage? After all, that was the Cub's main purpose. During most of its career, it was thought of as a really basic light training aircraft, not as an observation warbird. In particular, I notice that the military slant starts with the infobox picture by showing a version in World War II military colors. I'd think a photo of a standard yellow civil Cub would be more appropriate there. -- Colin Douglas Howell (talk) 06:32, 10 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The longer prose military coverage is understandable as there isn't much to say about a touring/training general aviation aircraft unless it was involved in something notable like setting a world record. The Piper PA-28 Cherokee article has no operational history section, probably for the same reason. One alternative would be to split the article, moving the military content into the redirect at Piper L-4 Grasshopper but this article is not large enough to be split on size alone and other editors would call for it to be merged back in to this J-3 article. The J-3 and L-4 are effectively the same aircraft type with different paint schemes. Nimbus (Cumulus nimbus floats by) 11:57, 10 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I think that the picture for this article should be changed.[edit]

The picture for this article; while really good, is of an L-4 Cub. I think that the picture can be misleading to people who click on the article, as the article name specifically says "Piper J-3 Cub". I do still think that the article should include pictures of the L-4, just not as the head picture (if that is the right term).

I would be happy to capture an image of a J-3 Cub if needed, although there are many available on Wikimedia Commons.

BenjaminWoolliscroft (talk) 02:28, 17 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I tend to agree that the lede image should be an actual civilian J-3. It was at one time, but was changed a while back. - Ahunt (talk) 14:35, 17 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The infobox name could be changed to J-3 Cub/L-4 Grasshopper, the latter name redirects here. It's commonly done when there are civilian and military variants that are mentioned in the lead (bolded in this case). There's probably more than one J-3 out there that has been converted to an L-4 by painting it green! Nimbus (Cumulus nimbus floats by) 15:05, 17 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]