Lock Haven
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Lock Haven
FLYING HIGH IN LOCK HAVEN By Lou Bernard
Lock Haven is known for a lot of things. It’ s the county seat of Clinton County and the home of Lock Haven University. It’ s the birthplace of artist John Sloan and actor James Bacon. And one of the things it’ s most known for is Piper Aviation.
Lock Haven was home to Piper, which manufactured the Piper Cub, for almost fifty years. Piper began in Bradford, Pennsylvania, but in 1937, the plant burned down. William Piper, owner of the company, was looking for a place to relocate, and one of our local pilots heard about it.
The pilot approached Edgar Heffner. Heffner was a local pharmacist and the head of the Chamber of Commerce, and later became the mayor. The pilot mentioned the fire to Heffner, and then flew him out to meet with Piper.
William Piper took Heffner for a flight in one of his newly-manufactured Cubs, and Heffner told Piper how much he enjoyed it. He talked up Lock Haven, and convinced Piper to move his company to town. Later, when he was elected mayor, Heffner revealed that he was actually afraid of flying.
Piper purchased an old silk mill on the east end of Lock Haven, and the company began moving in and hiring. The first Piper Cub came off the assembly line in July of 1937, and a new part of Lock Haven’ s history was born.
Lock Haven contributed to World War II with the Piper Grasshopper, a military-style version of the Cub created for the Army. The Grasshopper was designed to take off and land in small, woodland spaces, and was an unarmed spotter plane. After the war, when the government began selling off Grasshoppers at a discount, Piper almost went bankrupt, but saved itself with the Piper Vagabond, a small plane marketed toward weekend pilots.
Piper left Lock Haven in 1984, when parent company Lear- Siegler decided to pull the company out and move to Florida. Lock Haven still has the Piper buildings, however, and the Piper Museum, many former employees, and the good memories.
Lou Bernard is a local writer and can be reached at loulhpa @ gmail. com.
Photo: Piper Cub J 3 from Piper Airport.
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