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).
NOTE: These image are NOT public domain, there are all
copyrighted. See copyright notice below.
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Van Gilder Aviation Photography. Images are not to be
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