The plane is 85 years old. It has been built, rebuilt and modified five times. The cockpit has only four instruments. But these things were all part of the ride for 17-year-old Chloe Cambron, who flew the 1938 Piper J-3 Cub solo at the end of June.
Chloe Cambron is a senior at Poplar Bluff High School who began flying with her father, pilot and real estate investor Kevin Cambron, around age 9. She and her brother Zachary both learned to fly out of the Poplar Bluff Municipal Airport.
“I’ve been flying my whole life but I’ve been like serious about it for like seven, eight years,” she said.
She had around 60 flight hours in a few different models, including the Cub, when she hit the runway on June 21. However, this was her first solo flight, and she admitted feeling a bit anxious.
“I was kind of nervous, but...that’s expected. Once I got in there, I was like, I’ve done this a million times,” she said.
In the sky, experience kicked in. Chloe Cambron took off and landed three times. She described the vintage plane’s ride as a bit shaky, but “it was a really unique experience and it was really fun.”
The Piper Cub and other vintage planes stand out from modern planes due to their limited instruments: an altimeter to measure the plane’s height, a tachometer, an oil temperature gauge and a pressure gauge. There is also a compass.
“There’s not much there, really. There’s only just four basic instruments...This is basic VFR (visual flight rules) flying,” Kevin Cambron explained.
His career as a private pilot is what got him interested in vintage airplanes.
“Doing it for an occupation, you’re just kind of immersed in it,” he said. His family owns five airplanes which they use “for fun and some transportation.”
He added, “I’m not heavily into the vintage but...we go to some large shows every year to check them out, it’s kind of a side hobby.”
The Cub was built in Milton, Pennsylvania in 1938. According to the Smithsonian Institute’s National Air and Space Museum, Piper Aircraft Corp. manufactured over 27,000 Cubs from 1937-1947. It was a popular aircraft for beginners, which may be why the Cambrons’ Cub went across the continent after leaving the assembly line.
“It was flown to a flight school out of California after was built in 1938, which is a feat...And a J-3 Cub only has 12 gallons of fuel. So it’s really a feat to just get that from East Coast to West Coast,” Kevin Cambron explained.
The Cub was crashed and rebuilt around a year after its delivery. After its flight school tenure, it was refitted with a larger engine and tanks to serve as a crop duster in the 1950s. It eventually made its way back across the Mississippi River to Kentucky.
Kevin Cambron had wanted a Cub for awhile and was excited to learn this one was almost flight-ready.
“This one was being refurbished over in Kentucky, and it was at about 95% complete when we bought it. And so we finished up the rest of it,” he said.
This solo flight was another step for Chloe Cambron toward her pilot’s license. She already has 60 flight hours, and according to her father all she needs now is three hours of night training, nine hours of solo time and a successful cross-country trip of over 100 nautical miles.
Chloe Cambron is looking into colleges and plans to study engineering. Though she cannot say how it will intersect with her career, she intends to keep flying.
“I think it will definitely be a side thing,” she noted.
For her, flying is fun because it’s out of the ordinary.
“I think the most fun thing is just, it’s a really unique experience,” she said. “And I feel like a lot of people aren’t able to experience that.”