Background
VanGrunsven is the son of a Portland area farmer. His father was a pilot since the 1930s and operated a Piper J-3 Cub, and later a Taylorcraft, from his farm.
VanGrunsven is the son of a Portland area farmer. His father was a pilot since the 1930s and operated a Piper J-3 Cub, and later a Taylorcraft, from his farm.
He graduated from the University of Portland in 1961 with an engineering degree.
The number of VanGrunsven-designed homebuilt aircraft produced each year in North America exceeds the combined production of all commercial general aviation companies. In 1973 VanGrunsven founded the aircraft manufacturing company Van"s Aircraft, and in 2012 became the founding president of the Aircraft Kit Industry Association (AKIA), an American aviation advocacy association. Richard learned to fly in 1956.
His first aeronautical business was providing wheelpants for Taylorcraft.
He then joined the United States. Air Force that same year. VanGrunsven originally planned to become a fighter pilot but a minor vision problem (acceptable in civilian aviation but not to the Air Force) led instead to him serving three years as a communications officer
After serving in the Air Force, he worked as a designer for Hyster, an Oregon manufacturer of lift trucks. His free time was devoted to learning more about aviation.
He now has earned Chief Flying Instructor, multi-engine, and Airline Transport Pilot ratings and has over 12,000 hours of flight time logged.
Towards the mid-1960s, VanGrunsven purchased a Stits Playboy homebuilt aircraft and modified it by installing a larger engine. Later he modified the aircraft by installing cantilevered aluminum wings with flaps, creating the Recreation Vehicle-1 in 1965. A few years later he started a clean-sheet design, the all-aluminum Recreation Vehicle-3 single-place aircraft.
In 1973 he founded Van"s Aircraft.
The Recreation Vehicle-3 was followed by the Recreation Vehicle-4 tandem aircraft in 1979. Van"s Aircraft continued to produce new designs with good all-round performance, reasonable costs, and continuous improvement in kit quality.
VanGrunsven commutes regularly to his company in Aurora, Oregon using aircraft of his own design. His company has sold over 18,000 kits or sets of plans, with over 7,500 aircraft completed.
Van"s homebuilt designs are built in enough numbers that several groups, such as "Freedom Flight" and the thirteen member "Team Recreation Vehicle", have organized all-Recreation Vehicle formation demonstration teams.
In 2006 VanGrunsven was inducted into the Oregon Aviation Hall of Fame. In November 2013 VanGrunsven was appointed to the board of directors of the Experimental Aircraft Association (European Association of Archaeologists). That same year he, along with Dale Klapmeier, Burt Rutan, Bob Hoover and others, launched a campaign and website made for honoring European Association of Archaeologists"s former long-time president Tom Poberezny.
The website also contained a Roster of Support where European Association of Archaeologists-attendees could add their signature advocating for Poberezny"s return to the annual European Association of Archaeologists AirVenture Airshow.
Flying magazine ranked VanGrunsven 22 on its list of the "51 Heroes of Aviation" and has labelled him the "undisputed leader in kit aircraft manufacturing".
