The RV-3 at OSH. 34.. no, 44 years ago! Here is what started it all...page 1...
Today, June 3, 2017.....It was 10 years ago that I posted this article on the RV3. I know many newcomers to this site that are thinking about building or are building will enjoy some history of how Van's Aircraft started.
He nailed it with his first kit?? airplane......... and did it without a computer!
Enjoy the read.
by Budd Davisson Air Progress, November, 1973
At the Beginning: The Legend of Van's
A note from the New Millenium:
Try to imagine a homebuilt world without Van's series of RV's. Difficult, isn't it? I wrote the following pilot report in 1973, thirty years ago, which is amazing for a number of reasons, besides the fact that I must have been a kid at the time. It’s amazing to think that the then-new RV-3 and its progeny should still be with us and have matured to form a major portion of the homebuilt market. What I say in the following paragraphs about this, the very first RV prototype at Oshkosh ’73 still holds true today, which is why Van’s designs have been so successful. Bad products don’t have such success. The market place has said, in no uncertain terms, that his designs are easy to fly, good handling and his factory support is superb. The following is where the RV legend began. Read on but take note that the airplane only has 125hp, which makes you wonder why we are so horsepower-crazy today:
August, 1973, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Climbing out of the Van Grunsven RV-3 after my first flight, it struck me how incredibly far the art of homebuilding has progressed. There was a time, not long ago, when the term homebullt meant an airplane that could go like blazes, but came down final with all the grace and docility of a torpedo. Or, if it were a slow, easy-to-land airplane, it couldn't outrun an asthmatic hummingbird. It was axiomatic that a homebullt airplane usually (note, I said usually) couldn't handle both ends of the speed or talent spectrum. It was either a fast, raunchy-handling dude, or a slow, rather matronly machine. But the times are changing.
In the past few years, several designs have popped up that turned out to be a little faster than it seemed they ought to be, but were still fairly easy to fly. They didn't represent any quantum jump in either direction, though. Then the RV-3 came along, and the old saying about "airplanes fly like they look" was twisted into scrabble. Everything that gut-engineering says about the RV-3 is wrong. A little old-time homebuilt savvy applied to the RV-3 says it's going to be fairly fast for its horsepower, 150 mph maybe, but it also looks as if it'll need around 90 mph on final and will skip and skitter on the runway after touching down at 65 to 70 mph. Wrong in every department. It's far faster than it looks, and its low-speed envelope belongs to a fabric-covered putt-putt, rather than an all-metal, barn yard bullet. The RV-3 may just be the best of the new breed of homebullts. (Note from 2003: Man! Am I prophetic or what?)
In some ways, Richard Van Grunsven himself represents a new breed of homebuilder: the professional homebullder. A trained mechanical engineer, he bailed out of the job market and decided to do what he liked best—design and build airplanes. Now he's one of dozens of guys around the nation who design and build, draw up plans, tool up for producing parts and cast their bread upon the waters of sport aviation.
In the midst of the current hoopla as various promoters try to corner their share of the homebuilding buck, Van Grunsven comes on like a monk. He's one of the most understated salesmen in the business. He's so quiet and soft-spoken that he sounds almost apologetic for building such a pretty little high-performance airplane. The only time he gets an edge in his voice is when he tries to impress his listeners with the honesty and accuracy of his claims. He's terrified he'll be lumped in with the designers who make claims of fighter performance when their airplanes are run-of-the-mill pattern ponies. It anybody wonders how he arrived at a particular performance number, he'll eagerly search through the reams of notes he made while conducting hundreds of tests, measuring takeoff distances, calibrating airspeeds and verifying numbers.
His concern about people doubting his performance specs should have disappeared when he not only won, but set an all-time record for the Pazmany Efficiency Contest this year at Oshkosh. His top speed in a level run was over 207 mph, measured from the ground, and his slow speed was 53.8 mph! How's that for a performance envelope? His score was 11.77 with the closest competitor at 10.45, and the average around 6.8. His efficiency index is the highest recorded since the contest was begun several years ago. That means he is not only squeezing those 125 ponies to make them run, but has a way of keeping the airplane flying at a ridiculously low speed.
This year was the second showing of the RV-3 at Oshkosh, and even though it's an incredibly pretty machine, it didn't attract nearly the audience it should have. Because it doesn't have the exotic appeal of a negative staggered triplane, or a one-eighth-scale B-36, it's easily overlooked. It has conventional sheet metal construction with tapered steel Wittman-type landing gear and a 125-hp Lycoming ground power unit (Again from 2003: notice the engine, you horsepower freaks and it still really performs).
With 90 square feet of wing area (nearly the same as a two-place Thorp T-18), it's slightly larger than most homebuilts, but even so it doesn't stand out at a crowded air show. It's only when you take it away from the crowd that the true beauty of the airplane shows up.
Today, June 3, 2017.....It was 10 years ago that I posted this article on the RV3. I know many newcomers to this site that are thinking about building or are building will enjoy some history of how Van's Aircraft started.
He nailed it with his first kit?? airplane......... and did it without a computer!
Enjoy the read.
by Budd Davisson Air Progress, November, 1973
At the Beginning: The Legend of Van's
A note from the New Millenium:
Try to imagine a homebuilt world without Van's series of RV's. Difficult, isn't it? I wrote the following pilot report in 1973, thirty years ago, which is amazing for a number of reasons, besides the fact that I must have been a kid at the time. It’s amazing to think that the then-new RV-3 and its progeny should still be with us and have matured to form a major portion of the homebuilt market. What I say in the following paragraphs about this, the very first RV prototype at Oshkosh ’73 still holds true today, which is why Van’s designs have been so successful. Bad products don’t have such success. The market place has said, in no uncertain terms, that his designs are easy to fly, good handling and his factory support is superb. The following is where the RV legend began. Read on but take note that the airplane only has 125hp, which makes you wonder why we are so horsepower-crazy today:
August, 1973, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. Climbing out of the Van Grunsven RV-3 after my first flight, it struck me how incredibly far the art of homebuilding has progressed. There was a time, not long ago, when the term homebullt meant an airplane that could go like blazes, but came down final with all the grace and docility of a torpedo. Or, if it were a slow, easy-to-land airplane, it couldn't outrun an asthmatic hummingbird. It was axiomatic that a homebullt airplane usually (note, I said usually) couldn't handle both ends of the speed or talent spectrum. It was either a fast, raunchy-handling dude, or a slow, rather matronly machine. But the times are changing.
In the past few years, several designs have popped up that turned out to be a little faster than it seemed they ought to be, but were still fairly easy to fly. They didn't represent any quantum jump in either direction, though. Then the RV-3 came along, and the old saying about "airplanes fly like they look" was twisted into scrabble. Everything that gut-engineering says about the RV-3 is wrong. A little old-time homebuilt savvy applied to the RV-3 says it's going to be fairly fast for its horsepower, 150 mph maybe, but it also looks as if it'll need around 90 mph on final and will skip and skitter on the runway after touching down at 65 to 70 mph. Wrong in every department. It's far faster than it looks, and its low-speed envelope belongs to a fabric-covered putt-putt, rather than an all-metal, barn yard bullet. The RV-3 may just be the best of the new breed of homebullts. (Note from 2003: Man! Am I prophetic or what?)
In some ways, Richard Van Grunsven himself represents a new breed of homebuilder: the professional homebullder. A trained mechanical engineer, he bailed out of the job market and decided to do what he liked best—design and build airplanes. Now he's one of dozens of guys around the nation who design and build, draw up plans, tool up for producing parts and cast their bread upon the waters of sport aviation.
In the midst of the current hoopla as various promoters try to corner their share of the homebuilding buck, Van Grunsven comes on like a monk. He's one of the most understated salesmen in the business. He's so quiet and soft-spoken that he sounds almost apologetic for building such a pretty little high-performance airplane. The only time he gets an edge in his voice is when he tries to impress his listeners with the honesty and accuracy of his claims. He's terrified he'll be lumped in with the designers who make claims of fighter performance when their airplanes are run-of-the-mill pattern ponies. It anybody wonders how he arrived at a particular performance number, he'll eagerly search through the reams of notes he made while conducting hundreds of tests, measuring takeoff distances, calibrating airspeeds and verifying numbers.
His concern about people doubting his performance specs should have disappeared when he not only won, but set an all-time record for the Pazmany Efficiency Contest this year at Oshkosh. His top speed in a level run was over 207 mph, measured from the ground, and his slow speed was 53.8 mph! How's that for a performance envelope? His score was 11.77 with the closest competitor at 10.45, and the average around 6.8. His efficiency index is the highest recorded since the contest was begun several years ago. That means he is not only squeezing those 125 ponies to make them run, but has a way of keeping the airplane flying at a ridiculously low speed.
This year was the second showing of the RV-3 at Oshkosh, and even though it's an incredibly pretty machine, it didn't attract nearly the audience it should have. Because it doesn't have the exotic appeal of a negative staggered triplane, or a one-eighth-scale B-36, it's easily overlooked. It has conventional sheet metal construction with tapered steel Wittman-type landing gear and a 125-hp Lycoming ground power unit (Again from 2003: notice the engine, you horsepower freaks and it still really performs).
With 90 square feet of wing area (nearly the same as a two-place Thorp T-18), it's slightly larger than most homebuilts, but even so it doesn't stand out at a crowded air show. It's only when you take it away from the crowd that the true beauty of the airplane shows up.
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