Interesting RV-4 I saw today

[JonJay]

There are some old posts floating around about various retract 4's. I hangared with the builder of one if not the very first built. He built a dozen or so 4's before the FAA rule change shut him down. I started my project there. He had all of the form blocks for the rib modifications, plans, etc... He told me it was only slightly faster than stock and the weight did not make it a worthwhile compromise. He only built one.
Sadly, he passed, and to my knowledge, all of the tooling and plans where lost.
I ran into one of his early partners at breakfast the other day. If I see him again I will ask what he remembers about the retract 4.

[Steve Barnes]

I believe there is a retract 4 in Germany. Steve

[jrs14855]

Picture on Bing of N66PB in the grass on its belly. There are a couple other retract RV's shown, one is likely photoshopped, the other appears to be real. There was a retract RV at Oshkosh, I think '13, can't remember which model. Also mention of the one in Germany but didn't find a picture.

[rockwoodrv9]

I can assure you this one is real. It is in the hangar right next to mine. The owner flys it quite often. I will try and get a picture of him on take off and landing. I have always been interested in a retractable, but didn't think it was practical. This one causes me to think again. Not on my current project, but maybe someday!

[jrs14855]

Originally Posted by rockwoodrv9

I can assure you this one is real. It is in the hangar right next to mine. The owner flys it quite often. I will try and get a picture of him on take off and landing. I have always been interested in a retractable, but didn't think it was practical. This one causes me to think again. Not on my current project, but maybe someday!

Not questioning that one. I saw the one at Oshkosh, just can't remember much about it. Look at the one on bing it doesn't look real.

[wjb]

This seems like a great way to avoid all the fiberglass work for the fairings and wheel pants ... ;-)

[Snowflake]

Photos of Red show up every once in a while... It indeed did have a gear-up landing about four years ago. I think the original red spinner is on the shelf at the left, it appears the owner put a polished spinner on instead when the gear was repaired and the prop replaced.

[rockwoodrv9]

Originally Posted by Snowflake

Photos of Red show up every once in a while... It indeed did have a gear-up landing about four years ago. I think the original red spinner is on the shelf at the left, it appears the owner put a polished spinner on instead when the gear was repaired and the prop replaced.

Good Eye Rob. I commented to him about how cool the spinner was and he said he had it made. I cant remember where. He said he hated the other one because if looked like Madonna's ...., well you know!

[ao.frog]

Cool plane! I'm impressed that he went through all the xtra work!
Not only the retract, but also the effort of installing a -8 canopy on a -4 fuse. Impressive!

It looks like there's an additional fin on top of the fuse, just fwd of the VS?
Maybe xtra stability due to the retracts?

What kind of engine?
There's a few non-standard scoops and intakes on the cowling, so it'd be interesting to know what "he's packing"...?

It'd be very interesting with more info of this beauty? What about a few pics from inside the wheel wells?
And how much fuel capacity and how and where are the fuel-tanks?

[Larco]

In the late 90?s there was one parked near me at the Arlington fly in. The owner had purchased it from someone in Canada I believe. He loved flying it, didn?t say how heavy but that it was very fast. He did mention how the builder said it was to much work to do again, I can?t imagine.

On another note: The spinner on the one shown on this post looks to have a Cummins spinner. I just installed one on our 7 and it looks like the same design.

Larry