BIG DREAMER
Burt Rutan’s Designs Over the Years
In the previous century, some aeronautic engineers and designers achieved enough renown to become almost household names. There was Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, the man behind the Lockheed U-2; Reginald Joseph “RJ” Mitchell, visionary of the Spitfire; and Joe Sutter, head of the Boeing 747 project, who died last year. Today, one person alive can be counted among this group – Burt Rutan, who has created more than 300 concepts ranging from single-seat sport planes to space craft, almost 50 of which have flown. Along the way, he received six honorary doctoral degrees and won numerous awards for aerospace design and development.
Rutan is perhaps best known for designing SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X-Prize in 2004 by becoming the first functional privately funded reusable spacecraft. The project went on to form the basis of Virgin Galactic, a spaceflight company within Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. Virgin Galactic and Rutan’s aerospace company Flight Composites are now developing SpaceShipTwo, which will carry ‘space tourists’ 70 to 80 miles above Earth.
And yet, for all the excitement of space travel, Rutan’s smaller sport aircraft are equally captivating for their intended audiences. For over five decades, he has specialised in developing light, fast, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient aircraft, beloved especially by private pilots. Prime among them are the VariViggen, VariEze and Long-EZ, which feature an unusual ‘canard’ configuration. They adopt a duck-like profile in flight, with their wings set far back on the body. Unlike conventional aircraft where the tail surfaces don’t contribute to lifting the aeroplane, the ‘canard’ aerofoil ahead of the wing can provide stability and contribute lift. That means the main wing can be made smaller, reducing aerodynamic drag.
Rutan’s passion for flight was ignited when he and his older brother, Dick, became avid model aircraft flyers. Dick later joined the US Air Force and became a fighter pilot. Burt graduated from California Polytechnic State University and became a civilian USAF flight test project engineer at Edwards Air Force Base. In 1974, he set up the Rutan Aircraft Factory in Mojave, Southern California, to develop and sell plans of his first commercial design, the VariViggen, which enthusiasts could then build in their home workshops.
The two-seat VariViggen broke new ground in the homebuilt aircraft community with aerodynamic efficiency that allowed it to cruise at 265.5 km/h. In lieu of wind tunnel testing, Rutan had developed the VariViggen’s aerodynamics using a scale model rigged atop his station wagon, measuring the forces while driving on empty roads – to the bemusement of the California Highway Patrol.
Around 20 examples were built from Rutan’s plans, the first of which was constructed by an expatriate South African, Mike Melvill. Such was his enthusiasm for the project that he became Rutan’s first employee. He later went on to become a test pilot for the SpaceShipOne and was awarded the first ever set of Commercial Space Pilot’s wings.
While the VariViggen had predominantly used traditional spruce and plywood construction, the VariEze (pronounced as “very easy”) was the first homebuilt canard to use composite construction. It used a sandwich of lightweight plastic foam surrounded by glass-fibre laminates that gave the structure its strength. Slimmer and sleeker than its predecessor, the VariEze had just 0.15 square kilometres of frontal area.
Three months after the VariEze’s maiden flight on the 21st of May 1975, the prototype, powered by a modified VW Beetle automobile engine and flown by Dick Rutan, set a new distance record for sub 500 kg aircraft. It covered 2,636 kilometres in a non-stop flight of 13 hours and eight minutes, averaging 202 km/h and returning a fuel consumption of 65.5 kilometres per gallon.
Between 1975 and 1985, over 2,000 sets of drawings were sold for the VariEze and the Long-EZ. Meanwhile, Rutan’s ever fertile imagination led to the production of Quickie, an ultra-light tandem-wing design capable of flying at over 193 km/h while using a converted industrial engine of just 18 horsepower.
On an entirely different scale, Rutan designed and built the Voyager, which in December 1986 became the first aeroplane to fly around the world without stopping or refuelling. Flown by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, the aircraft remained airborne for nine days, covering a total distance of 40,233 kilometres. Another Rutan design repeated the feat in 2006 when the single-seat jetpowered Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, flown by adventurer Steve Fossett, set the record for the longest unrefuelled solo flight in history, covering 41,466 kilometres in 67 hours.
These days, Rutan — now 74 — is officially retired. Still, new ideas keep coming forth. In 2015, he unveiled the design of a new amphibian aircraft, the Rutan SkiGull, intended to fly between Hawaii and California at a cruise speed of as much as 327.8 km/h, yet taking off or landing in 122 metres on surfaces including rough terrain, seas, grass, snow, or ordinary runways.
Perhaps the ultimate accolade for Rutan is that no less than six of his designs are on display in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. Among them are a Quickie and the prototype VariEze, the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer and Voyager record breakers, and the White Knight spaceship launch aircraft. Above all, suspended between Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of Saint Louis and the Bell X-1, the world’s first supersonic aircraft, is SpaceShipOne, the first ever private spacecraft.