Van's insight

[Bob Axsom]

There was no "9" in 1995

The airplane I saw at Vernonia that day had the constant chord horizontal tail, and longer wings than the RV-6 I was familiar with at the time. It also had the same vertical surfaces as the RV-6. Maybe it didn't have a name yet. I remember the date because I'd returned home from Europe two days before. The RV-9 was definately in development at that time.

Bob Severns

I attended one of the last workshops offered by Van's Aircraft in the fall of 1996. It was conducted in the R&D shop at North Plains, OR. At that time the RV-8 fuselage was nearing completion in the shop. There was no RV-9 or RV-7 at that time. Van has an inquisitive mind and you might see anything flying around out of his shop that will eventually end up as part of a standard kit configuration years later.

Bob Axsom