Piper PA-48 Enforcer

The Piper PA-48 Enforcer is an American turboprop-powered light close air support aircraft that Piper built in the 1970s and 1980s as a development of the North American P-51 Mustang. The concept began as the Cavalier Mustang of David Lindsay, whose Cavalier Aircraft sold the program to Piper in 1970. Piper converted two Mustang airframes in 1971 with Lycoming YT55-L-9A turboprops, and in the 1980s built two new PA-48 prototypes that shared less than ten percent of their structure with the P-51. The aircraft performed well in United States Air Force tests in 1971 to 1972 and again in 1983 and 1984, but the Air Force chose not to buy it, and two prototypes survive in museums.