William Thomas Piper, Jr.

Record breaking pilot and aviation icon. William T. Piper Junior was the son of William Thomas Piper Sr. and Marie Van de Water Piper. He joined his father's Piper Aircraft Corporation in Clinton County Pennsylvania after he graduated from his father's alma mater Harvard University in 1934. In spite of the great success of Piper Airplanes, he preferred to be called Bill and insisted on living an ordinary life. His wit and humor were enjoyed by many. He was very sharp and very personable man who regularly attended community functions.

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Record breaking pilot, one of the last of the flying daredevils of the 1930's, former President of Piper Aircraft Company and son of it's founder, William T. Piper, Sr., the "Henry Ford of Aviation." As a young man, he and his brothers Howard and Thomas worked at the Piper plant during the summers and all learned to fly. Bill earned his pilots wings in 1932. A 1934 graduate of Harvard University, for his first job, he was put in charge of the company's sales in the western United States where the Cub was virtually unknown. There he met and became lifelong friends with future Hollywood columnist James Bacon. He was an avid golfer and spent most of his adult life in Lock Haven, PA. He was active at the Clinton Country Club, Bald Eagle Athletic Foundation, Lock Haven YMCA, Clinton County Historical Society, the Chamber of Commerce and many other local organizations. He happily recounted the last European air battle of WWII between a Piper Cub and a German Mescherschmidt upon request. "it was an hour or so before the war was supposed to end, and the german saw this Cub flying around. The Piper was flying so low that he baited the German to come in, and he came in really quick, 300-plus miles an hour. The Cub went into a box canyon and turned around but the Mescherschmidt couldn't pull out and went-wham!-into the wall of the canyon." Bill Jr's father served as company President until his death in 1970 and Bill took over that post through the 1972 Hurricane Agnes flood and the eventual sale of the company to Bangor Punta Corp. in 1977. Bill remained in Lock Haven when the operations were moved to Vero Beach, FL by the new owner, Lear Siegler, Inc. in 1984. He remained active in local organizations and remarried in 1981 after his first wife died of cancer. He loved gin martini's and was always friendly and down to earth with everyone. Bill fell on Monday, August 20, 2007 and had surgery the following day for a broken hip. His wife Elizabeth said that he was chatting with nurses, reading the sports pages and doing crossword puzzles on the afternoon before his demise. Easily Lock Haven's most famous resident for the past 30 years, his longtime friend James Bacon said of him, "he put Lock Haven on the map, and the Piper Cub through his hard work made the town world famous. He is buried in the family mausoleum on a hill overlooking the City of Lock Haven.

Bio by: db