In October 1939 a non-stop endurance record of 22 days was set (that's somewhere around 500 hours!). It was set by a Piper J-3 Cub named "Miss Sun Tan" after the sponsor and powered by a Franklin 50 hp engine and flown by two brave and enterprising fellows named Kelvin Baxter and Robert McDaniels, who managed to live, sleep, eat and excrete for that period in the air in the narrow confines of a Cub! They flew from Muncie, Indiana and had a bunk down the back of the J-3, and refuelled and revictualled by pulling everything up on a rope in 2 gallon cans from a Chevy pick up truck on the ground. I read the story in a Piper Club magazine many years ago, have lost or lent the magazine and find very little info on the net on the details of the modifications to the aircraft.
I have an airfield near a small town in the eastern cape province of South Africa which I am developing on a 1930's theme (already have a '39 Packard, "39 Chev, '48 Chev fire tender, '39 Aeronca, '41 J-5 and of course the trusty J-3/L-4) and I am planning a sort of dry run for October this year with a proper commemoration next year with a Cub fly-in. Now I know this is just a little far for you people on the other side of the world (!) but I think it is quite an achievement by the Cub and generally forgotten. I imagine the record still stands - no doubt it would be illegal to try and beat it today (not that I'd like to try) and what I want to do is dress my Cub up to look like the record aircraft.
Does anyone out there have detailed information on Miss Sun Tan? If anyone knows where I can get a '37-'39 Chev fuel truck, that would also be a bonus.
I have an airfield near a small town in the eastern cape province of South Africa which I am developing on a 1930's theme (already have a '39 Packard, "39 Chev, '48 Chev fire tender, '39 Aeronca, '41 J-5 and of course the trusty J-3/L-4) and I am planning a sort of dry run for October this year with a proper commemoration next year with a Cub fly-in. Now I know this is just a little far for you people on the other side of the world (!) but I think it is quite an achievement by the Cub and generally forgotten. I imagine the record still stands - no doubt it would be illegal to try and beat it today (not that I'd like to try) and what I want to do is dress my Cub up to look like the record aircraft.
Does anyone out there have detailed information on Miss Sun Tan? If anyone knows where I can get a '37-'39 Chev fuel truck, that would also be a bonus.
