What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Have RV-1 Documents: what are they?

EwingM

I'm New Here
I have original set of plans for the RV-1 wings, fabrication and assembly instructions, 17 original photos of the wing assembly in progress, and a letter from Mr. VanGrunsven dated Jan 1, 1972.

I guess I am a little confused because it only discusses the wings and not the rest of the aircraft. Was the RV-1 only a wing modification? Also, when I emailed these documents to Van's aircraft to ask what they were, an employee "who had been with the company for 20 years" had never seen them before. And after reading their website, I got the impression that they did not sell plans for it?

Any help?
 
Once Van had made all of the modifications and changes to the Stitts Playboy to create the RV-1, he flew it to many fly-ins, airshows, and events. He wanted to show what he created to the show that it was possible to have "total performance". A number of pilots were interested in modifying their own Playboys to be RV-1's.

Van typed up plans for the wing modification along with drawings and sold these plans.

He also had molds for the cowling and the wheel pants but I will leave it to better informed individuals as to the sale of parts from the molds.

Take a look at the following pictures. They may be the same as what you have.

RV-1_Wing_Photo_16.jpg

Great piece of history !
 
Thanks

Yepp, they are the same pictures. Do you know if anyone else had used the RV-1 wings on their plane?
 
Yepp, they are the same pictures. Do you know if anyone else had used the RV-1 wings on their plane?

Yes - there was one additional "full" RV-1 completed that we know of, and recently it has been for sale - I believe that it is in Colorado. Dick actually helped with the testing of that airplane - it was built in the Northwest.

As has been stated, there are a great number of differences between the RV-1 and the original Playboy - I basically tell people that the only part of the Playboy still there is the steel tube fuselage frame. Pretty much everything else has been changed.

Hope you can make it to Oshkosh to see the -1!

Paul
 
And to add one more tidbit of information... the wings under construction in the photos are -3 wings, not -1 wings. Because we received the instructions and photos as a package, we also assumed the wings were -1, but closer examination revealed these wings have spars extending into a center section - not so on the -1.
 
Take a look at the following pictures. They may be the same as what you have.
Great piece of history !

Interesting to see how many of the original wing details such as the vertical stiffener indents between rib lightening holes, stub spar profile and the mass balance attachment details appear again in my RV-12 kit.
 
Back
Top