---This is a Comanche PA-24-380. It is a stock PA-24, with an IO-720, that is 380 HP AND an Aztec tail. The fellow in the photo is Walt Jamouneau, an engineer with Piper, who was quite instrumental in much of the Comanche development. This airplane was the prototype for what was to become the PA-24-400.

---This is the first production 400 Comanche. The IO-720 is now 400 HP. All Comanche 400's came equipped with Aztec tails. If you look at a 400 next to a twin or another single, you can see how much more massive the stabilator is. The wing skin is also thicker on the 400 and the auxiliary tanks hold 30 gallons each instead of the 15 gallon capacity of the auxiliary tanks in the other singles and the twin. The 400 also has a heavier landing gear trunion and larger diameter tubes than the other singles. These units are interchangeable with the twin. There were only a total of 148 Comanche 400's built, all during 1964.

     The sales pitch back then was, "This is the fastest, single engine, normally aspirated production aircraft available". And that statement is still true today. If you have any doubts, just ask Charlie Horton!!

---This is a PA-24-600. In 1968, Air Research Of Phoenix installed a 600 shaft horsepower turbine in a 400 Comanche-- N8401P. This airplane set an altitude record of 42,560' It is registered today as a PA-24-400 to a fellow in Texas who has had it since 1984. I spoke to him recently, and he told me that after the Air Research engine testing, that Garrett used the aircraft as an experimental test bed for various turbine engines, one of which was 800 shaft horsepower and set a speed record of 504 mph at 45,000'. The only other modification that was ever on this airplane according to the present owner, was exploding door hinges for a quick bailout. These were removed when the IO-720 was reinstalled in 1984.

One of Bill Pipers sons was 'Pug' Piper. Pug was responsible for the development of the 400 Comanche. He had convinced Lycoming to build the IO-720 specifically for that project. He was quite a salesman. One of his other pet projects was a pressurized Comanche.

 ---Pug supplied Ed Swearengen with a set of 400 Comanche wings, and Ed built a totally new round fuselage, on the front of which he attached a 350 HP IO-540 Lycoming. Here's the pressurized Comanche alongside a Navajo.

---N4600Y also had a sexy looking gull wing door. 

---It also had electronically controlled, hydraulically operated nose wheel steering. A Lycoming test pilot at Lock Haven had trouble with the steering and crashed 00Y into a couple of new Aztecs that were awaiting delivery. The Comanche and the Aztecs were destroyed and the project was eventually abandoned.

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