The Early Days

EAA Chapter 105 is a local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association, and one with a rich history. Although the EAA hasn't maintained its earliest records, the chapter was apparently chartered in 1961. The earliest chapter status report is dated 12/31/65 at which time Dick "Van" VanGrunsven was president. At that time there were 88 members with 50 home-built aircraft under construction, 11 flying home-built aircraft, and 1 vintage aircraft under restoration. The chapter was incorporated on January 26, 1966.

The chapter has held its monthly meetings in a variety of locations. In the late sixties, it met in the basement of a bank in Milwaukie. It met for a time thereafter at a hangar at Aurora State Airport, and at a hangar at Lenhardt's Airport. It then met for many years at the PGE office building at the intersection of Scholls-Ferry Road and Murray Blvd.

In the '60's and '70's (we are unclear on the actual dates), the chapter held an annual fly-in at Lenhardt's south of Aurora (see the accompanying photos). The RV-3 belongs to Bob Larsell. He is still a chapter member, and still lists this RV-3 as one of two that he owns and flies. The guy he is talking to is Carl Battjes, still a member and a former chapter president. The other picture shows Dick VanGrunsven and Norm Durrell manning the registration table. Both are still members and former presidents of the chapter. When anyone talks of the early days, the name Holly Fletcher always comes up. He was a member of great enthusiasm who lived at Dietz Airpark.

Twin Oaks days

Under the leadership of Del Zander and Bill Benedict, the chapter began renting a hangar at Twin Oaks Airpark in the early 1990's where it held monthly board meetings and chapter meetings. Because RVs were the most ubiquitous design, and because RV builder support was provided by the Home Wing, chapter meeting programs at the chapter hangar typically involved some other design or some other aviation related topic. The chapter sometimes held the monthly chapter meeting off site at aircraft projects (Lancair IVP, Thunder Mustang, T-34) or at an aviation related business.

The chapter has also held a fund-raising pancake and grits breakfast and fly-in at Twin Oaks the first Saturday of every month without missing a month since the summer of 1994. Attendance averages 150 to 200 diners, with lots of aircraft on good weather days. It has also held a Poker Run annual each summer, with a barbecue afterwards for the participants.

The chapter restored the prototype RV-3 for donation to the EAA museum at Oshkosh in 1997. It also obtained 501c(3) recognition that year. The chapter owns and has a future project in the restoration of George Bogardus' Little Gee Bee which he flew back to Washington DC in the late '40s or early '50s. With the majority of the proceeds of the George Bogardus estate, the chapter in 1999 established the George and Lillian Bogardus Memorial Trust Fund to carry out charitable, scientific or educational purposes and to support the purposes of several aviation related 501c(3) organizations in the region, including Chapter 105.

Chapter 105 has also hosted the EAA's B-17, "Aluminum Overcast", at HIO since 2000 and will host her again as the EAA's schedule permits.

The Home Wing

The Home Wing of Van's Air Force was an unincorporated association of RV builders that met on the second Thursday of every month, usually at an RV project to view the host's project and discuss building techniques. Needless to say, the host project was the focus of the meetings. The attendees generally were either building an RV or considering it, and the level of enthusiasm at the meetings was very high. Although it was not chartered, it contained the very essence of an EAA chapter: builders banding together to assist each other with their projects.

The group was organized in 1991 or 1992 by four Chapter 105 members: Ken Scott (former Chapter 105 president), Steve Harris, Bill Kenny, and Don Wentz (former Chapter 105 president). In more recent years, the association was managed by Don, Randall Henderson, and Randy Lervold.

The group originally began meeting to provide builders' assistance to RV builders. Such builders' assistance is a traditional role of EAA chapters, but the Home Wing was type specific, dealing only with RVs. Members of several local EAA chapters also belonged to the Home Wing, and Home Wing members participated in EAA sponsored programs such as the Technical Counselor program and Young Eagles flights. Some Home Wing members belonged to the EAA, but didn't belong to an EAA chapter.

Since 1992, the Home Wing also hosted an annual RV fly-in at Scappoose Airport. In recent years, attendance has often exceeded 100 RVs. T-shirts adorned by a member's recently completed RV are sold at the fly-in and worn with pride by local builders. Some members have at least one example of every T-shirt. This fly-in is one of the premier aviation events in the Northwest. It has been successful due in large part to the efforts of Don and Janet Wentz who hosted it out of their hangar at Scappoose. The fly-in is traditionally held on the Saturday of Father's Day weekend in June. In 2004, the membership of the Home Wing merged into the membership of Chapter 105. Currently, we have over 200 members, and will be holding most of our meetings at aircraft projects.

(click on pics for larger view)

Approach to Lenhardt's circa late 60's or early 70's

Norm Durrell and Van are ready to take your money

Lenhardt fly-in

Jerry Springer and his Minicoup

Bob Larsell in his RV-3 talking with Carl Battjes

Jerry VanGrunsven in his RV-3

Van realizing he needs to design a two place airplane,
the RV-4 is conceived

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by Gary Standley

As the first RV-3, N17RV is indeed an historic aircraft. Built by Van himself as the prototype, serial #1, and later owned by Dr. Steve Moseley, this RV-3 ended up in a fuel exhaustion accident (NTSB report) and languished in storage for many years. For more information on the history of the RV-3 check the History page at www.rv-3.com.

The notion of rebuilding N17RV surfaced in the mid-90s and the project began in 1995 with the donation of the damaged aircraft to Chapter 105 by Dr. Moseley.

The first year showed a lot of interest and participation. Major hurdles were overcome and the pieces began to come together. The engine/gear mount was twisted and broken and brought back to health by Bob Larsell. The fuselage was split in half, the front section needing a complete reconstruction, the tail cone had about half the skin drilled off flapping in the breeze. The tailfeathers were in good shape but needed some TLC, you know, the dirty work done. "Dangerous" Dan Delano took them as well as parts of the wing control surfaces and massaged them back to health. The wings are mismatched. One is from the prototype, the other from another airplane.

The original wing had the skins fitted and drilled. Ron Poe, Larry Berry, and I spent a few hours at Van's riveting them back on. The "other" wing is in pretty sad shape. The main spar was severely bent at the root end, the leading edge skin badly dented and top skins warped. Larry Berry drilled off the old skins leaving a sad looking skeleton. Jim Anglin took on the chore of cleaning this up for us.

Because the wings are not the matched set for the fuselage we had our work cut out for us. Rion Bourgeois, Randall Henderson, Neal Arney and myself beat, banged, stretched, bent the root end of the bad spar back to some semblance of straight, drove some rivets to hold it in shape and began the setup to align and drill the wings to a new fuselage main spar bulkhead. With the fuselage main spar bulkhead constructed and fastened to a bench we inserted the wings, leveled them, and moved them around to get the dihedral set. We drew our string tight from tip to tip and measured and measured again, then clamped the $#@&*$#% out of it, then turned Rion loose with a powerful drill motor. We hope when the wings are actually in the fuselage they appear approximately the same distance from tip to ground.

This done, Don Wentz took over the mismatched wing and new skins to install, as well as a flap and aileron to bulld for this wing.

A custom fuselage jig was built to accommodate the tailcone as it had to fit down inside rather than sit on top as in new construction. The front section of the fuselage was put together and the mating of the old and new began. We stabbed the tailcone to the new longerons and measured and aligned as best we could. We called Bill Kenny in with his transit and took many sightings from several angles to best insure alignment etc. Once we were comfortable we'd done all we could, we started drilling and ultimately riveting it all together. Laird Smith was a big help with much of the fuselage work.

Once the fuselage was off the jig and the engine/gear mount installed it could now can be rolled around the shop. The rudder/brake pedals were installed next.

There was still much to do. Don Wentz had the wing to re-skin, the interior of the fuselage needed to be completed, instrument panel built and instruments installed, engine installed, canopy bubble installed, forward fuselage cowling installed, wheel pants installed, control stick and associated tubes installed, engine cowling fitted and installed, wheel, wing, horizontal stab fairings made and installed. Then it wouldbe time to begin the cleanup and get ready for paint. There was plenty to do.

Looking back, much time had passed, but the actual time of working on this project probably wasn't that long. I didn't kept track of the hours but work had been intermittent depending on participation from our membership. In the early stages there was much interest and participation, mostly from RV builders. We even had a guy from Austin, Texas, come over one night to spend an evening as he was in town on business.

During the process Van mentioned that Oshkosh 1997 will be the 25th anniversary of the first appearance of the RV-3, N17RV. He was hoping that there would be 2500 RV's flying by then, and that at least 250 of them will make it to Oshkosh. Thought it might be a gala affair to present the prototype to the museum and have as many RV's there as possible while celebrating a quarter of a century of this great, affordable design (thanks, Dick).

WE DID IT! Thanks to the last-minute efforts of a few dedicated individuals, including many from Van's shop crew, the plane was finished and with the paint barely dry, was trucked to Oshkosh 1997 just in time for the fly-in. It was displayed on the flightline all week at virtually show center, along with the 287 other RVs who showed up to celebrate the 25th annaversary of the first RV. Thanks to all who worked on it!

Epilogue: N17RV now rests on proud permanent display in the EAA Museum in Oshkosh, WI. Click on the pic for a good look...

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EAA Chapter 105 has a unique relationship with experimental aviation. It is the beneficiary and steward of the legacy of George Bogardus, the Oregon pilot who was instrumental in establishing the experimental type certificate. In the late 1940's and early 1950's, Mr. Bogardus flew his homebuilt, the Little Gee Bee, back to Washington D.C. three times (and drove once) to demonstrate to the federal Civil Aeronautics Board (now the FAA) that homebuilt aircraft were worthy of certification. It was through his efforts that we are able to build and fly our own aircraft.

When Mr. Bogardus passed away in 1997, he left his entire estate to EAA Chapter 105, including the remains of the Little Gee Bee. The chapter used the major portion of the estate to establish the George and Lillian Bogardus Memorial Trust Fund to support local aviation oriented non profit corporations, and to fund aviation related scholarships. The Trustees of the George  and Lillian Bogardus Memorial Trust Fund are Dick VanGrunsven and other past presidents of Chapter 105.

The Bogardus Trust each year awards a Bogardus Trophy to the Oregon EAA Chapter and Oregon EAA Chapter member which flew the most Young Eagles flights the previous year. The accompanying table depicts the Bogardus Trophy winners.

The Chapter still owns the Little Gee Bee. It is currently undergoing restoration in Dick VanGrunsven's shop at Sunset Airstrip in North Plains, Chapter members who wish to volunteer to help in its restoration should contact Dick.  Dick is looking for volunteers with wood and fabric aircraft construction experience to help with the goal of displaying it in a museum. If you have such experience and are willing to contribute your time to the project, please call Dick at Van's Aircraft in Aurora. More info on the origins of the Little Gee Bee can be found here.

Chapter member Stan VanGrunsven has also begun the restoration of the Little Harlequin engine from George's estate. This engine was used in a Les Long design and one or another of the VanGrunsven clan actually flew behind it. It uses ancient Harley-Davidson parts, and Stan is trying to find or fabricate what is necessary to actually get it running. Successful or not, the attempt should be worth a program at a chapter meeting.

In 2003 chapter member Dick VanGrunsven initiated and led the restoration of George Bogardus's "Little Gee Bee" as a chapter project. He then found a home for it in the prestigious Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington D.C. The resotoration in chronicalled in both the slide show below as well as the article in Sport Aviation magazine...

Slide show of restoration (.pdf)
Sport Avation article, January 2007 (.pdf)
Air & Space museum article on Little Gee Bee restoration

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