Van's Air Force; World Wide Wing
Thuh Barn
aka home of Billie Baggett's RV-6A, Clyde Stanfield's RV-6, and Chuck Silverstein's
RV-6 projects
Thuh Barn is a RV toybox located deep in uncharted wilderness somewhere in North Alabama. Three RV builders who call this beautiful setting "home" hosted the September, 2000 meeting of the TVRVBG and showed off the shop of every RVer's dreams.
Retiree Billy Baggett, who claims to hold title to the property upon which the barn resides, is well into an RV-6A. The engine is in hand, and Billy hopes to fly his plane by the end of 2001.
Clyde Stanfield is the builder of this RV-6. Clyde's RV is going to make some big waves once it arrives at fly-ins due to his unique metal work.
Clyde is a fourth generation metal craftsman. Check out this aluminum empennage fairing. The workmanship is incredible, and the fairing fits better than most hand-laid fiberglass units.
Capping the vertical stab of Clyde's project is this metal tip fairing. There are no metal working marks visible in the fairing!
Clyde's family is renowned for fabrication of intricate metal roofs, windows, and trim details.........and soon......all-metal RVs.
How 'bout a metal NACA vent??
Here is the complete vent. Once again, flawless workmanship.
But you ain't seen nuttin' yet...........
Yes, those are metal wheel pants. The welds are worked down to perfection.
This is the nose gear pant. Clyde hasn't decided yet whether to build the skinny or pressure recovery pants for the main gear.
I was impressed with the wood buck (visible behind pant) that the metal is formed around.
You are not going to believe what we saw in the corner of the shop......the early stages of a buck for a metal RV-6A cowl. This will be a show stopper!
Unfathomable engineering concepts are broached at each of our meetings. Here Bob Butler entertains the notion of whether or not a cleco should be used more than once.
Even though there are no photos of Chuck's project, his RV-6 wings are stored in the barn as the fuse goes together at his home shop. These fellas have a beautiful shop in an idyllic location that would be the envy of any builder.
Makes you wonder what these builders are going to do with the shop once the planes are flying..........start on a fleet of RV-9A's?