04/30/2015. Remarks by present owner Dan Shumaker: "This Super Cruiser was originally sold to W.C. Wheatley of Clayton, New Mexico, USA, on December 9, 1946 for $3295.00. On February 4, 1947 it was sold to Southern Air Service of Memphis, Tennessee. Southern Air Service was owner by Mrs. Louise Campbell Kent, Cy Shobe, and C.W. Wood. In February of 1947, it was flipped over, resulting in major repairs to both wings and required the replacement of several ribs.

On October 17, 1947 it was sold to Waterways Aircraft Company of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Harry E. Shumaker (Ed) had been maintaining this Piper since it moved to Vicksburg. On December 28, 1948 it was sold to Joseph J. Richie of Vicksburg.

On September 1, 1950 it became part of the Shumaker Family when Robert Shumaker purchased it with some financial assistance from his sister Catherine. During March 1952, Ed recovered it for the first time, using Grade A fabric, five coats of clear nitrate dope, and five coats of silver dope. He also repaired some bent diagonals in the fuselage and put in a new windshield.

While Robert was in the Navy, Ed looked after the PA-12 and moved it to Marianna, Florida in 1953, eventually becoming the owner on June 23, 1959. While it was in storage in Ed's hangar on the Old Starr Road in the late1960s, it survived the hangar being blown over. Ed recovered it again in March 1963. Dan Shumaker soloed in it on June 19, 1963. S & S Air Service used it for flight instruction and fire patrol for several years. On fire patrol some days it would fly eight hours per day.

After a long and hard working stay with S & S Air Service, this Piper became the property of Byron and Dan Shumaker. On June 1, 1986, Dan became the owner. Restoration and modifications were completed on July 20, 2010."

04/30/2015. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "The Super Cruiser was a post war development of the 1942 model J-5C. The differences being that two wing tanks were fitted (with metal wing spars), the interior was updated and a few external aerodynamic changes were made to clean up the appearance. The prototype was J-5C with registration NX41561 (c/n 5-1601), it had its first flight on October 29, 1945. Power plant was an 100 hp Lycoming O-235-C. Following successful trials this aircraft was redesignated as a PA-12 and was allocated the new c/n 12-1.

Production commenced in early 1946, and the first aircraft was c/n 12-2 (NC87800) completed February 22 at Lock Haven. The first known fitment of the 108 hp Lycoming O-235-C1 engine was c/n 12-9 (NC87808), completed on March 19. During 1946 c/n 12-4 (NC87803) was flown experimentally fitted with an 100 hp Franklin engine. The final aircraft c/n 12-3625 was completed at Lock Haven on May 22, 1948 and was exported to Argentina. This model was the third one to be built at Ponca City as well as at Lock Haven, production starting here in January 1947 with c/n 12-1901 (NC3650N) and finishing with c/n 12-4036 (NC78846) on March 18, 1948.

The only variant was the float equipped PA-12S Seaplane, an example is c/n 12-1674 (still registered N2455M as of this day) which has a 135 hp Lycoming O-290-D2 engine installed.

Between the August 9 and the December 10, 1947 George Truman and Clifford Evans flew round the world in two Super Cruisers. These were c/n 12-1618 (NX2365M) and c/n 12-2623 (NX3671M). They took off and landed at Teterboro, New Jersey, USA and flew 22,500 mls (36,210 km)."