The now annual Kitty Hawk RV Fly-in was again a huge turnout from both RV aircraft owners and other general aviation aircraft who made the outing to the east of Pretoria for a great breakfast and lunch at the Kitty hawk restraint which is well advertised through the aviation community and surely attracts all pilots from around the country.

Kitty Hawk aerodrome is located 30km and an easy 20 minute drive south east of Pretoria in the Boschkop area. The airfield is the central hub for an active aviation community and offers aircraft owners superb facilities. As the theme being a RV Fly-in many types of RVs flew into the field and owner to owner had the great opportunity to interact with one another and share the passion for the Vans Rv aircraft.

Some of the resident Rv pilots gave the visitor’s a display of formation flying with different types of the Rv, after the break the Raptors Rv team broke away and then continued to give their usual display at their home base where all of their airshow training takes place before the air show season starts. Once again a great turnout from everyone that attended and one of the friendliest fly-in Aviation Central has attended. We look forward to sharing this day again next year!

History of the Vans RV

After improving another homebuilt design, the Stits Playboy, as much as he could, Richard (Van) VanGrunsven decided to start with a clean sheet of paper. His RV-3 impressed a lot of people (“RV” of course, stands for Richard VanGrunsven…). Many of them were willing to take on the task of building an airplane from scratch so that they, too, could have an airplane that flew like Van’s. Already an experienced pilot, Van quit his job with a forklift company and seized the opportunity to work with his real love, aviation. He founded Van’s Aircraft, Inc. in 1972 and began selling plans and a few parts for the RV-3. These he manufactured himself, working in a small shop behind his house in the small town of Reedville, Oregon. As business grew and Van’s Aircraft began producing full aircraft kits and new designs, the company moved to larger quarters in North Plains, Oregon, a small town about 25 miles west of Portland. Van and his wife Diane built a home on a residential airpark just across the road from the factory. For many years, the RV prototypes and demonstration aircraft flew from the grass runway at the airpark.