"And Now For The Rest Of The Story"
Today I walked over to take a closer look at the RV on a Stick. Upon closer inspection, I noticed a few interesting details. First, there was no data plate on either side of the tail. That really didn’t surprise me as they weren’t required in that location until the mid-90’s sometime, IIRC.
Second, the cowl was obviously handmade and not pulled from a mold. Leading me to believe this was a very early aircraft.
Third, there was no indication that there was ever an N-number applied to this aircraft.
Fourth, the craftsmanship is absolutely top rate!
As I was looking at the airplane, I noticed the owner was working on a project outside of one of his hangars so I went over to talk to him and ask about the RV.
This particular RV had never been in an accident, as I had been told by another airpark resident. Apparently it is an early RV-3 and was under construction when these aircraft started shedding wings. The builder was close to flying but at that time Van did not have the fix that would later become the RV-3A. To the builder, it probably looked and felt like he had built a boat anchor and rather than risk his life or anyone else’s for that matter, he sold the engine, instruments, engine mount, etc. Then, before selling the fuselage he cut the wing spars and took a hammer to fuselage cross member so it would never fly again.
The guy who bought it from the original builder contacted Van and was told that with the spar damage, it was scrap metal. With that little bit of knowledge, owner number two sold it to owner number three who “bolted it together” and put it on the poll. He thought that if it couldn’t fly, at least it would have air under its wings and help other pilots.