RV-1 Nostalgia

[Special Delivery]

I’m in the trenches of upgrading my desktop computer, a task that’s always been at the bottom of my list of favorite things to do… until today. I purchased the most bad-ass gaming machine I could reasonably afford and have been taking time to bring in data from several of my outdated machines. Oh, the treasures I’ve found that I thought were lost forever!

Today’s treasure was finding the complete set of digitized RV-1 logbooks and more particularly the entries I made into Logbook #4 prior to Friends of the RV-1, Inc. donating the aircraft to the EAA museum. These logbook entries list the individuals and businesses that directly participated in various phases of preserving and delivering the RV-1 to the EAA museum. The historical preservation of the Vangrunsven RV-1 was in large part a VAF community effort and best guess is that no other aircraft in the EAA museum can claim this number of individuals directly involved in preserving and presenting an aircraft to the museum. The VAF community ROCKS!!

Good possibility YOUR name is on one or more of these lists… some have gone West and a toast is raised to each of them. The collective work and dedication of these individuals provided a significant contribution to preserving homebuilt aviation history. The memories and good times we shared during the journey are priceless and downright nostalgic for me. Enjoy!

>> Little known RV-1 factlet; A long time friend and astronaut Robert L. “Hoot” Gibson was the President of Friends of the RV-1, Inc. While he served behind the scenes without recognition, his contributions were significant to the overall success of the project. /reb
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RV-1 in all its glory... Hanging in the EAA museum


RV-1 Financial Support


RV-1 Vendor Support


RV-1 Restoration and Tour Maintenance


RV-1 Tour Logistics and Venue Support


RV-1 Tour Pilots and Escorts


RV-1 Special Acknowledgments

 

[Ironflight]

Great memories Ernie - thanks for posting this and making my morning! Lot’s of airplanes have gone into my logbook in the years since, but the RV-1 always gets a special pat on the spinner when I am wandering through the EAA Museum.

 

[scard]

Good times indeed.

 

[rvbuilder2002]

Thanks for the memory jog Ernie
The trip from Van’s in Aurora Oregon to Airventure 2012, as the final leg of the tour to make the deliver of the airplane to EAA, acting as escort pilot for Joe Blank in the RV-1 ( I think Joe did the longest flight leg of the entire tour), is my fondest memory in regards to Airventure trips.

Flying along on Joes wing in the first ever teen built RV-12 with one of the Teenflight1 team members in the seat beside me, handling a lot of the flying duties.

 

[Mike S]

Wow, ghost from the past for sure.

RV 1 and escort planes staged at Reno, then safely in hanger at Marysville for the Golden West fly in.

 

[Ironflight]

I took this picture of the current interpetive sign at the EAA Museum - the airplane is now on the floor where folks can get a closer look at it….

So who else has pictures from the tour they want to post?

 

[JonJay]

Huge thank you again to Paul and Joe Blank (RIP) for trusting me to fly it. I was super nervous to take it up. “What if I wreck it?”
It was a good feeling when I flew it back to Vans and handed it back!
Also, Scott was still at the factory and the 1 needed an oil change. “I never loan my tools, but I’ll make this exception” Thx Scott. I am proud to have my signature on the firewall, and in the log book.
This airplane touched a lot of people.
Great find and reminder of that. This could have all been for not had it not been spotted by Paul languishing in an obscure hangar.

 

[JonJay]

Joe Blank helping me with the oil change.
My blood,
Initials on the firewall.
The RV1 sitting outside my hangar as viewed from the living room.
My safety pilot has some air to airs I’ll work on getting.

 

[rvbuilder2002]

The trip from Van’s in Aurora Oregon to Airventure 2012, as the final leg of the tour to make the deliver of the airplane to EAA, acting as escort pilot for Joe Blank in the RV-1 ( I think Joe did the longest flight leg of the entire tour), is my fondest memory in regards to Airventure trips.

Flying along on Joes wing in the first ever teen built RV-12 with one of the Teenflight1 team members in the seat beside me, handling a lot of the flying duties.

Joe in the hangar at Van's just prior to departure (Miss you Joe)


Eastbound flying off the wing of Teenflight1 with Sterling Langrell in Van's Red RV-12 demostrator


The second to last stopover of the RV-1 tour, in Townsend MT (Final was at Steinair in Farmington MN), hosted / organized by Brian Carroll (forums Hydroguy2)


Our Team - Sterling, Brian (Host), Joe, Aric Krause (Teenflight Team Member) Myself

 

[DeltaRomeo]

Well since this is quickly becoming the *it* thread of the day/weekend <g>, I’ll add my RV-1 PIREP.

Tate Reeves (my son age 12) helping Stan Price work on the belly in Jay Pratt’s ‘RV Central’ on Jan 7, 2012. Randy ‘Monkey’ Richmond in the white cap far corner.

Same workspace Jay and I finished my RV-6 in back in 2002 (hadn’t made that connection until just now).

And now that I think about it, Dick V. stopped here once with his motorized sailplane and did some work on it in the same spot.

A nice trip down memory lane, and I miss my friend Joe very very much.

v/r,dr

PS: Later, the one picture I have over at my home field with the RV-1 parked next to my -6. I wish you could better know when the special moments are in front of you!

 

[Jerry Fischer]

View attachment 117577
Joe in the hangar at Van's just prior to departure (Miss you Joe)

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Eastbound flying off the wing of Teenflight1 with Sterling Langrell in Van's Red RV-12 demostrator

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The second to last stopover of the RV-1 tour, in Townsend MT (Final was at Steinair in Farmington MN), hosted / organized by Brian Carroll (forums Hydroguy2)

View attachment 117580
Our Team - Sterling, Brian (Host), Joe, Aric Krause (Teenflight Team Member) Myself

Perhaps the current owner of The Mockingbird N1583 would consider donating him to the EAA Museum...

 

[AirShowFan]

Perhaps the current owner of The Mockingbird N1583 would consider donating him to the EAA Museum...

No way! The original RV-1 is already in the museum, so I think that the other RV-1 should stay in the air!

As you may remember, I almost bought the Mockingbird a couple times, and occasionally I still wish I would have. I wonder if it will ever re-surface. (Ahem, pinging @N546RV ...)

In any case: I bought my first RV in 2011, and I learned as much about RVs as I could, right away. So; In the summer of 2012, I was already in a position to appreciate how cool it was that you guys restored the RV-1 and took it on tour:

 

[Special Delivery]

Virginia Festival of Flight




Mitch Lock in the hot seat



Glen Salmon - RV-8 driver and Friends of the RV-1 website guru



A very warm welcome... Well over 50 visitors took advantage of photo ops

 

[Mike S]

Laura and I got to try on the RV1 at Bob Mills hangar in Reno.

 

[Mike S]

Old and new.....

 

[JonJay]

This event was my first and possibly last opportunity to actually fly the RV-1. It was the end of the day, the show was over, the field was almost empty, I was qualified, and I had every intention of flying RV-1 at least once around the patch. The voice of risk/reward however kept interrupting my thought process shouting in my ear that every flight was a significant risk that the airplane would not make it to AirVenture on time. I ultimately gave in to reason and settled for a long taxi. Good enough!

Virginia Festival of Flight
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Mitch Lock in the hot seat
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Glen Salmon - RV-8 driver and Friends of the RV-1 website guru
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A very warm welcome... Well over 50 visitors took advantage of photo ops
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Fantastic photos!

 

[TS Flightlines]

Fantastic photos!

We were honored and proud to be asked to provide some hose assemblies for RV1. That phone call, along with some others, really shifted into a higher gear, what is now Aircraft Specialty Flightlines. Very grateful for that. And knowing that our little contribution to history will be in the EAA museum for all to enjoy.

 

[BruceW]

Perhaps the current owner of The Mockingbird N1583 would consider donating him to the EAA Museum...

Or at least sell it to a group of guys that can keep it flying. 8^)

 

[Mark Cigal]

I'll happily add a few photo's to this post. It was such an honor to have been able to fly the RV1. Scott Jordan and I flew it from Penn to Conn and then on to New York. Here it is on the ground in Hartford CT. with Miss Claire (my RV8) in the background, and in the air enroute to New York.

 

[hydroguy2]

View attachment 117577
Joe in the hangar at Van's just prior to departure (Miss you Joe)

View attachment 117578
Eastbound flying off the wing of Teenflight1 with Sterling Langrell in Van's Red RV-12 demostrator

View attachment 117579
The second to last stopover of the RV-1 tour, in Townsend MT (Final was at Steinair in Farmington MN), hosted / organized by Brian Carroll (forums Hydroguy2)

View attachment 117580
Our Team - Sterling, Brian (Host), Joe, Aric Krause (Teenflight Team Member) Myself

Thanks for the memories, it was a special day to be able to host RV-1 and its crew for a fuel break. I forgot to grab a picture of it with my RV-7, named Aurora. Then a couple days, I was able to participate in Airventure 2012 opening ceremony tribute to Dick VanGrunsven. Got to park in Aeroshell Square(?) with RV1 through RV-14. One of the first non-insiders to see & sit in the Brand new RV-14 that morning also
What a week for me!

Still flying Aurora, just not as much.

 

[Capflyer]

I was honored to fly the RV-1 two legs of the tour. Picture was from a video shot by Mitch Locke from the RV-12 on the leg from Suffolk, VA to Dogwood Airpark in Stafford, VA. Second leg a day later was from Dogwood to Frederick, MD. Mitch was awesome at getting me shuttled between all the airports and home and it was my first time in both an RV-12 and RV-10.

 

[N733JJ]

I'll happily add a few photo's to this post. It was such an honor to have been able to fly the RV1. Scott Jordan and I flew it from Penn to Conn and then on to New York. Here it is on the ground in Hartford CT. with Miss Claire (my RV8) in the background, and in the air enroute to New York.

Here are three more from our time with the 1.

 

[Steve]

The RV-1 at Ogden, KOGD, UT