Mr. Tom van der Meulen, owner of the aviation service that carries his name, is a man with a heart for history. It is therefore that he decided to return his Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub PH-TOP (construction number 18-8257) to its original cropsprayer configuration.

In the past weeks PH-TOP has been equipped with spray booms, spraytank and a small prop-driven pump. In the coming weeks PH-TOP will take to the air for a number of photoshoots together with its sister ship PH-TOM. During these flights PH-TOP will demonstrate its spraying abilities (with pure water for these occasions).

After its final flight the Super Cub will become a static exhibit in the Heritage Hangar at Oostwold airport in the Netherlands. The museum and its ever expanding collection can under normal (non-COVID) conditions be visited from April until the end of October.

The PH-TOP is quite unique, as this 1966 built machine is still 100% original. It was used for cropspraying duties by Tom van der Meulen sr. until 2007. By that time the specialised equipment was removed and the plane was used for taildragger training and banner towing. These tasks will be taken over as from January 2021 by yet another Super Cub, PH-TOK.

Photo: Tom van der Meulen