North American designed the Navion near the end of WWII. They were originally designed for the civilan market but attracted the attention of the US Army, who placed an order for 83 . The US Army called these the L-17A. The design was acquired by Ryan in 1948. They continued to build the successful design. Today, there are quite a few Navions flying at a number of small airports across the United States. This is the 805 Squadron of local Navion flyers that are seen regularly in Southern California. They planned on flying 2 flyovers for Memorial Day. This was the practice flight. I flew along in the lead aircraft with David Swett. The rest of the flight was Thom Polizzi (#2), Dave Vanoni (#3) and Eric Johnson (#4).

Pilots briefing before the flight.


Departing Camarillo