(If someone can resize these, please do!)
As some of you may know, we lost Dave Casey a few weeks back to an accident in his Varga off the CA coast. Dave was a member here, and when he was killed his RV-8 was in the paint shop. Dave's 8 was built at Stead a few hangars down from me by him and one of the best craftsmen in the RV world. He spared absolutely no expense on this airplane and he and the gentleman that built it are genuinely proud of it, so it deserves to be shared with the RV community here as Dave was just waiting to show off the paint job. Sadly he never got to see it.
Enter my dad and I. We started the 7 years ago as a father/son project, and life kept getting in the way. I joined the Navy, moved a dozen times, deployed three times... he retired and then kept taking new jobs (he sucks at retirement).... progress was slow. When news of Daves passing came along, we knew the family was going to need to move the airplane. Working with the gent that built it, and Dave's close friend, we decided to liquidate our project and buy his 8 from the family.
This airplane is absolutely amazing, as anyone that sees it in person will attest. Our plan is to try and get it to Oshkosh this summer with the builder and some other locals to present it to the RV community. If it's not a show winner, it's very very close. The whole situation is bittersweet. As Bob Mills will attest I have very mixed emotions over the whole deal. No one wanted this to happen, or play out the way it has. I was really sad to see my 7 go (Poison's "Every Rose Has a Thorn" was playing when the truck was closed up taking it away, I may have shed a tear), but my dad will be able to enjoy it while he's still able. Dave's family knows it's going to someone that watched it being built, and will absolutely care for it and appreciate it.
So I present Dave's vision...
http://i58.tinypic.com/2aetteh.jpg
http://i58.tinypic.com/ddm893.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/2h4ytxz.jpg
http://i59.tinypic.com/15plx1j.jpg
Bob Mills playing with the panel.
http://i57.tinypic.com/fd90mb.jpg
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/9651/img1629yo.jpg
As some of you may know, we lost Dave Casey a few weeks back to an accident in his Varga off the CA coast. Dave was a member here, and when he was killed his RV-8 was in the paint shop. Dave's 8 was built at Stead a few hangars down from me by him and one of the best craftsmen in the RV world. He spared absolutely no expense on this airplane and he and the gentleman that built it are genuinely proud of it, so it deserves to be shared with the RV community here as Dave was just waiting to show off the paint job. Sadly he never got to see it.
Enter my dad and I. We started the 7 years ago as a father/son project, and life kept getting in the way. I joined the Navy, moved a dozen times, deployed three times... he retired and then kept taking new jobs (he sucks at retirement).... progress was slow. When news of Daves passing came along, we knew the family was going to need to move the airplane. Working with the gent that built it, and Dave's close friend, we decided to liquidate our project and buy his 8 from the family.
This airplane is absolutely amazing, as anyone that sees it in person will attest. Our plan is to try and get it to Oshkosh this summer with the builder and some other locals to present it to the RV community. If it's not a show winner, it's very very close. The whole situation is bittersweet. As Bob Mills will attest I have very mixed emotions over the whole deal. No one wanted this to happen, or play out the way it has. I was really sad to see my 7 go (Poison's "Every Rose Has a Thorn" was playing when the truck was closed up taking it away, I may have shed a tear), but my dad will be able to enjoy it while he's still able. Dave's family knows it's going to someone that watched it being built, and will absolutely care for it and appreciate it.
So I present Dave's vision...
http://i58.tinypic.com/2aetteh.jpg
http://i58.tinypic.com/ddm893.jpg
http://i62.tinypic.com/2h4ytxz.jpg
http://i59.tinypic.com/15plx1j.jpg
Bob Mills playing with the panel.
http://i57.tinypic.com/fd90mb.jpg
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/9651/img1629yo.jpg
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