The PA-23 was a notable departure for Piper. The PA-23 retained the steel-tube fuselage frame of the Twin Stinson, and had a fat, constant chord wing that helped its short-field performance, but not its speed. Piper installed larger engines, changed to a single vertical fin and covered the airframe in metal, and the Apache was born, hitting the market in 1954. This design formed the basis for the PA-23. The design originated at Consolidated Vultees Stinson Division, which was acquired by Piper Aircraft in 1948. The precursor of the PA-23 was the Twin Stinson, which not only had two engines (125-HP Lycomings) but two vertical tails, as well.
The last versions, by contrast, are capable load-haulers with very good short-field performance. In this case, the original was small, all-metal, and underpowered to the point that single-engine operations can be extremely hazardous…just like other twins with small powerplants. The PA-23 is one of those airplane designs that stayed in production so long that the final versions were almost unrecognizable derivations of the original.
