The first homebuilt was a rather sad-performing 65 hp S**** Playboy which Van flew for a year and sold. During that time, he purchased another Playboy airframe and rebuilt it, installing a 125 hp Lycoming engine, bubble canopy, and Hoerner style wingtips. This flew much better, but still had a high landing speed, high sink rate, and only moderately good cruise speed. Clearly, he reasoned, this much horsepower should provide better performance, so the airframe couldn't be as efficient as its sporty lines indicated.
Within a year of returning to civilian life, now employed as a mechanical engineer, he had designed, built and installed a set of cantilever aluminum wings to replace the strut-braced wood and fabric originals. Renamed the RV-1, the Playboy flew like a new airplane. The wings were equipped with flaps to provide the short landing performance required for operation from the short farm strip. It was jokingly said that the only reason "that cheap Dutchman" rebuilt the Playboy was to be able to keep it at home and avoid hangar rent. Whatever the reason, it was the beginning of the RV designs.
From 1965 through 1968 Van flew the RV-1 550 hours and enjoyed its performance immensely, but still, he was aware that it was a hybrid and felt something better was possible. Van figured that an airplane should be able to fly into any reasonable airstrip where the fun might be, have enough power and maneuverability to do good basic aerobatics, and be as fast as possible. This may not seem to be a particularly inspired goal, but just consider for a minute how few airplanes actually achieve it. He reluctantly sold the RV-1 (it was still flying in 2001) and began design and construction of the RV-3. It flew for the first time in August 1971. It proved to be a delightful airplane, an improvement in every way over the RV-1.
