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Outlier2 -> American Original, Aerospace Designer Burt Rutan Has Retired (5/3/2011 8:49:45 PM)
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Some people build things that work well but they are uninspired or, worse yet, ugly.
Lots of people build things that are beautiful, but don't work.
Burt Rutan designed beautiful planes that work very well.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-rutan-retirement-20110401,0,1938565.story
"Five of his planes now hang in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, including the Voyager, which in 1986 became the first airplane to fly around the world without refueling, and SpaceShipOne, which in 2004 became the first private rocket plane ever to put a man into space."
"In 1974, he moved to Mojave "because it was cheap enough" and opened Rutan Aircraft Factory on a $15,000 loan from his father to develop do-it-yourself kits for hobbyists to build small planes.
He set up shop at Mojave airport. At the time, the airport was a remnant from the days when it was a World War II Marine Corps air station.
In 1975, Rutan found success with his VariEze (pronounced "very easy") aircraft design, which looks like a rocket ship from the "Jetsons" cartoon series. Four years later, he developed the Long EZ, an aircraft that had an endurance of 2,010 miles — more than twice the distance of the VariEze.
Both aircraft, made of composite fiberglass material, are simple to assemble and safe to fly, and have a top speed of about 200 mph, said Tom Poberezny, president of the Experimental Aircraft Assn. "He's the Pied Piper of aviation," he said. "The Rutan brand is one of efficiency and innovation. When you land a Rutan-designed plane, everybody looks."
In 1982, he formed Scaled Composites to design research aircraft for the government and commercial customers. Rutan maintains that the company has been profitable from the start.
His work drew headlines in 1986 when his brother, Dick, and co-pilot Jeana Yeager flew the Rutan-designed Voyager on a nine-day epic flight around the world."
"In 2004, a team led by Rutan won a $10-million purse called the X Prize to send someone into space twice in a week without government money."
Photos in Chronological Order:
1. LongEZ,
2. Voyager,
3. Spaceship One being carried by White Knight Launch Plane
Chase Plane a Beechcraft Starship.
[image]local://upfiles/517881/6AB9DBD96AC847A0836EBF5A7A7B8A2D.jpg[/image]
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