The Willamette Valley in western Oregon stretched below us, green vineyards hugging the curves of the river, squared-off farmers’ fields, some browner this year than most, a patchwork of life all fringed by the hills that contain and define this timeless place. On days such as the one we were enjoying, the valley was the perfect place to fly: wide and smooth, gateway to the coastal range and the Pacific Ocean to the west, Portland and its urban allure to the north, the Cascades to the east and, for many aviators, the valley itself. Ken Scott, a 24-year employee of Van’s Aircraft and my excellent companion for a remarkable day of flying, commented that when the weather in the Willamette is nice, it’s a great place to fly airplanes. When it’s not, he said, it’s a great place to build them.
Which is, of course, exactly what Ken’s boss, Dick Van Grunsven, has been doing in this valley for 40 years now, creating a legacy of remarkable airplanes that only keep getting better as time moves along. The first airplanes, the RV-1 and RV-2, were tentative forays into the burgeoning world of kitplanes, but, with the RV-3, the company had established itself as a major player.
