Piper PA-23
touring aircraft family by Piper
The Piper PA-23, named Apache and later Aztec, is an American four- to six-seat twin-engined general aviation light aircraft, used also in small numbers by the United States Navy and military forces in other countries. Originally designed as the Twin Stinson in the 1950s by the Stinson Aircraft Company, it was produced as the Apache and a more powerful version, the Aztec, by Piper Aircraft in the United States from the 1950s to the 1980s.
Design and development
The PA-23 was the first twin-engined Piper aircraft, and was developed from a proposed "Twin Stinson" design, inherited when Piper bought the Stinson Division of the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation. The prototype PA-23 was a four-seat, low-wing, all-metal monoplane with a twin tail, powered by two 125 hp Lycoming O-290-D piston engines; it first flew on March 2, 1952. The aircraft performed poorly, so it was redesigned with a single vertical stabilizer and an all-metal rear fuselage and more powerful 150 hp Lycoming O-320-A engines.
Apache
(ICAO code: PA23)
Two new prototypes of the redesigned aircraft, named Apache, were built in 1953 and entered production in 1954; 1,231 Apaches were built. In 1958, the Apache 160 was produced with upgraded 160 hp (119 kW) engines; 816 were built.
The Apache 160 was superseded in 1962 by the Aztec-derived 235 hp (175 kW) Apache 235. With a 1962 price of $45,000, the Apache 235 featured the Aztec's engines and swept tail surfaces (119 built).
Aztec
(ICAO code: PA27)
In 1959, Piper produced an upgraded version with 250 hp (186 kW) Lycoming O-540 engines and a swept vertical tail as the PA-23-250, and named it Aztec.
The public source identifies “Piper PA-23” as touring aircraft family by Piper. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Piper, PA-23 and touring.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Piper PA-23”, the useful work is to connect “touring aircraft family by Piper” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q441585. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1952, 1953, 1954 and 1958.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Piper PA-23”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Piper PA-23 primary sources, Piper PA-23 archive and Piper research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Piper PA-23”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Piper PA-23” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.