Piper J-3 Cub POH & manuals
A 1938 airplane with a 1938 handbook: a handful of pages, almost no performance data, and limitations that live on placards and in the airplane's own paperwork. Most flying J-3s have decades of STCs and modifications layered on top.
1 variant · 2 documents · all links checked live
These documents are for reference and study. Editions, serial ranges, and revision levels vary, and none of these copies carries your airplane's weight and balance or equipment list. The current POH or AFM in your aircraft governs every flight.
Best source: J3-Cub.com
Paid membership for full document access. The best-organized Cub manual library, including service manuals the free mirrors do not have.
Handbooks by variant
Open the variant that matches your airplane's model year and serial range. If you are between two of them, read both title pages before you trust a number.
J-3C-65 and siblings (1938–1947)2 docs
Continental A-65 on most survivors, with A-75 and Lycoming variants out there too. Weight and balance on a heavily modified Cub is a real exercise, not a formality.
- J-3 Cub pilot's manual (reproduction)avsport.org
Reproduction assembled for a flight-sim Cub, reproducing the original operations manual content. Useful reading; not approved data for any airplane.
- J3-Cub.com documentation library (membership)j3-cub.com
Type-club library. Membership required for downloads. Ask there for the edition matching your serial and engine.
Also worth having
The FAA handbooks are public domain and free, and chapter 10 of the PHAK is the clearest explanation of what each POH section is supposed to tell you. See the FAA handbook list →
Once you have the right handbook, build the card: Piper J-3 Cub checklist template →