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Harold flew west but his tail remained with me

Saber25

Well Known Member
This summer marks a thirty year anniversary of my RV4 and the memory of the remarkable man that introduced me to an equally remarkable plane.
In 1985 while returning from a training mission in south western Idaho for the National Guard, I flew over a small dirt strip adjacent to a work shop and spotted a shiny aluminum airplane. At 500agl I identified it as an RV4 having seen pictures of the airplane in Sport Aviation. I determined the position of this location on my map and the following day my wife and I rode the motorcycle to Murphy Idaho for a closer look.

Out in the desert country near the Snake River, we met Harold and his wife who helped build what was then the first RV4 in Idaho. After a brief introduction and explaining my interest in his plane, we walked down to the shop to get a closer look. Well, for me it was love at first sight. Years earlier in the 70?s I had planned on building the T-18 which was then considered the hot rod model for homebuilts, but with intervening time the RV4 had outpaced the T-18 in every performance category and also looked far sleeker. The seed was planted.

Harold had an interesting background. He could build anything and that included homesteading and building a ranch out of raw land in Idaho to include building the rig to drill his water well. He logged a plot of forest land he owned in the mountains and ended his career working as a lineman for a telephone company. Not one to sit around he decided at age 64 to build an airplane. He ran a tractor up and down his land to build a strip of sorts with a fence at each end of this hockey stick shaped runway measuring 1800ft. Adjacent to the runway he built a workshop and proceeded shortly thereafter with the RV4. In those days, basic hand tools for building were acquired and those that were not available on the market would be hand fabricated.

In the 12 months it would take to complete the RV4 he simultaneously took flying lessons in a Citabria. His previous flight experience included 17 hours in the Stearman as an Army AirCorp cadet back in 1943. It seems my old friend didn?t have the right attitude required to finish the flight program so he ended his Army career as an infantryman in Europe.

By 1985, 42 years later, Harold achieved three milestones within several months. He celebrated his 65th birthday, acquired his pilot license and completed the RV4. It was my good fortune then to become friends with Harold during that momentous time.

That year I was commuting to work and after returning home I inquired of Harold how the first flight went. He admitted he had not flown her yet but taxied her up and down that talcum powder volcanic runway quite a bit. I cautioned against anymore taxiing since the -4 has no air filter and he had a newly overhauled engine that would suffer from all the dust ingestion. We took the long drive to his place the next day and there she sat in all her shiny aluminum splendor. Harold suggested I get in and see how she felt taxiing up and down that powdery path. Not heeding my own warning I couldn?t resist the offer and got in. Well? she was made for me and the ergonomics of that plane and cockpit felt like an old comfortable glove. She started right up and at a very low power setting I taxied up the inclined runway to the fence and turned to coast back down. I waited a couple of minutes to let the dust settle and nudged the throttle for our return to the small group consisting of Harold, and our wives. I made a 180 turn in front of Harold and must have had the biggest grin possible as I gave a thumbs up. He returned the gesture and to me that was the go sign. Partial flaps, full power and away we go clearing the fence by several hundred feet.
I won?t go into the next thirty minutes of test flying, suffice it to say she performed everything I asked of her and gave back change. The -4 sitting on the ground looks sleek, smooth and nimble and she did not disappoint and I was elated with that flight. Coasting to a stop, I witnessed my old friend with tears in his eyes, a rush of emotion that belied his normally unperturbed demeanor.

I was in a high hover returning home that afternoon and ordered my tail kit before the end of Van?s business day. Not having a place to build at the time, Harold suggested I have the kit sent to his address and I could use his shop whenever I had days off. A month went by and I finally had a row of days in which I could drive the 1 1/2 hrs to his shop and start on my project. It was great to see Harold again and imagine my surprise when he showed me a completed vertical and horizontal stabilizer. So, just as I stole the first flight on his RV-4, he drove the first rivets on my tail feathers to get me started. His workmanship gave me something to strive for and emulate throughout the building process.

Fast forward to Oct. 1986, we?re now established in our new home with unfinished daylight basement. Due to a couple of moves tied to my employment I finally had a place to complete my -4 in earnest. For the next thirty three months my social life was either at work in a cockpit or down in the basement with the -4. My wife treated this as my second full time job and would give me a hand when one was needed but otherwise let me have time with what would eventually be our other mistress.

On the 6th of June1989 at 0600, I took our bird up in a clear blue sky and she flew without a single gripe. No leaks, seeps or unwarranted control issues. A small trim tab on the rudder and the left aileron and she flies straight and true. So just four years after test flying the first RV-4 built in Idaho I flew the first RV-4 in Colorado and a close friend flew his a week later. In the next five years we would fly her 1000 tach hours and those flights included back country camping, formation and formation acro and dogfighting. The tail that Harold built sustained dings while flying into Atlanta, Sulphur Creek, and many more in Idaho and Montana and she wears the battle scars with aplomb.

Now with 26 years of faithful service and thirty years since first starting her, ?Miss Fusion? still provides immeasurable pleasure on each flight and that RV grin simply won?t fade away. Harold flew west in 2009 but his tail continues to fly with me and reminds me each flight what an interesting character Harold was and I thank him for the RV introduction. In subsequent years Harold went on to build many more RV?s to include the -4, -6 and even the Harmon Rocket. His skill and ability was noticed by Van?s and for a year he helped organize the labor force to start the quick build kits which most builders now have. Harold was of slight and wiry build, but to me he was a big man who came from that ?Greatest Generation? to whom we owe a great deal of gratitude.

Memorial Day and remembering.

Hans "Cobra" Miesler
 
Hans,

What a wonderful remembrance of someone that had such an impact on you, thank you for sharing.

Thank you for your service to our country, and a thank you to all others that have served, and are serving now.

I sincerely hope that you will be making the trip west this year. I so look forward to meeting up with you in Longmont and then making the incredible flight into the Rockies to Afton, then Johnson Creek and beyond.

Sitting around the campfires in the mountains and listening to your stories and jokes, along with the rest of the guys, makes the universe right. Especially when y'all get going with the Army vs Air Force vs Navy antics. When you are not there you are sorely missed.

Chris
 
Hans,
Not sure why this one caught my eye but for some reason I was drawn to it. Harold was a very special person for sure. I have some very happy memories with he and Jean as well. It was a very sad day when I had heard of his passing. Harold was most definatly a can do guy and I learned a lot when I was around him. He didn't do any building for me but he helped several people get off the ground. He always had a project in the works.
A very nice tribute to him Hans,
Ryan
 
nice story

Hans,

Nice story. It is very easy to see that you have great passion for your airplane. The people we meet because of our shared passions is part of what makes these little airplanes so great.

The guy who really motivated me was Buzz Lauritzen in Boone, Iowa. As you know, in those days RVs were still a relatively rare site so getting to see a finished product a special occasion.

I don't think anyone else will ever own my RV4 as long as I can still fly it.

Twister
 
RV-4's

Hans: Thanks to you for sharing a great tale! You both must be fast builders... Hope you have many more great times in your RV-4.
 
Wow, just, wow.

Hans,

What a fortunate man you are to have met and befriended such an amazing person. As I'm sure you well know, that is the most valuable stuff of life. I'm sure you miss Harold and I'm sure he misses you.
 
Thanks guys for the kind words. To have a man like Harold in your circle of friends is indeed a privilege, one that doesn?t come around too often.

Twister, you?re right on, as long as I can crawl into that -4 she?s not going anywhere. Too many memories of neat people we?ve met and places that little bird has taken us. Oh, she?s economical to operate as well

Bill, I was on fire to get her completed in part because once you fly one it?s engraved in your mind by the pleasure endorphins that flight produced. Also a large contributor was our training departments? emphasis of using all the magic that Boeing put in the glass airplanes. After a frustrating four day trip watching the captain stumble all over his fingers trying to make it fly, I would stop by KAPA and fly the -4 in my uniform just to calm down. Before Highlands Ranch existed, some of the bovine got familiar with the four and I could go home and be civil.

Cheers, Hans
 
Hans,,,, I loved your story as it reminded of the time in the late 80s and early 90s when you and Bill would do a gun run on my house, then try to duplicate the Blues for a few minutes (scaring the **** out of my wife) then I would pick you up and she would fix us breakfast as you checked out my work on my four that I was building at the time. Seems as tho life goes around in one big circle.

Thanks to you I never gave up.

For those people interested, the house was set up perfectly for low low altitude strafing runs as it sat in a saddle overlooking a large valley up in mountains of Colorado. Hans idea of fun was to aim for the kitchen window and see if he could miss by inches and I swear it was he that took out my CB antennae.
 
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Dave,
Those were good times and you?re RV builds all came out with first class workmanship. I remember you asked me to fly your airplane on its initial test flight. I counseled that your initial training and subsequent PP in the Citabria was more than enough to handle a plane that was as honest as a Van?s. The caution was, pick a smooth calm morning up at Grandby, select a few chosen bystanders and give birth to your plane. A few days later you called and told me that first flight was as if you?d flown her all your life. I must have relayed that story a hundred times at the early stages of the Van?s phenomena

Cheers, Hans
 
Hans,

Great story, I'm sure glad I didn't miss this one. Your friend Harold sounds like the real life example of that industrious, hard-working, salt of the earth American of "the greatest generation" who left the farm to fight and win a war on a continent far away, then came back and never stopped moving forward after that. I'm impressed. Great to know you are still flying the tail he made for you for all it's worth.

On this Memorial Day, I'd like to say thank you to Harold and you for your service to our country. I'll add my thanks to all other veterans who served and sacrificed as well. Memorial Day is usually a beautiful, but also a sad, weekend for that reason.

Sincerely,
Bill
 
We figure Harold Steiner had his hand in 30-some-odd RVs and Rockets of various dash numbers. He's counted among the Founding Fathers of RVdom because of his extensive experience with the airframes; you'd always find him at the Homecoming, mixing in with the likes of Van (of course), Vetterman, and many of the other old hands that brought the types to perfection.

Harold was a short hop from my Caldwell, ID, base. The contents of his shop and some of the stuff around looked prehistoric, but it birthed airplanes under Harold's skill. Floating around my hangar block is the Harold Steiner Memorial Wing Incidence Jig, a simple tool that simply traced the top of the airfoil in a 1x8 from leading edge to trailing edge. Set your ailerons and flaps to it; none of this plumbbob and straightedge stuff. Such was his innovation.

Dropping out of flight training routed Harold through the Battle of the Bulge. We owe him and his generation much more than thanks.

John Siebold
Boise, ID
 
What a great story! Your -4 is indeed amazing; I've told several folks how it has all the performance of my -6A and then some on 20 less HP.

Thanks for sharing!
 
John,

Thanks for adding to that narrative. Harold was one of a kind :) and I miss him. Too many stories left untold for lack of space.

Brad, looking forward to your next visit to the high country, maybe bring "Precession" with you from out East.

Cheers, Hans
 
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