A test engineer goes his own way

Burt Rutan spent 1965 to 1972 as a civilian flight-test engineer for the US Air Force at Edwards, and began his first design, the canard VariViggen, in 1968; it flew in April 1972. In June 1974 he returned to California and set up the Rutan Aircraft Factory to design light aircraft and sell plans to amateur builders. It had the rear wing, forward canard and pusher layout that became his trademarks. At RAF he designed prototypes mostly intended for amateur builders.

Very easy

Its breakthrough was the VariEze, pronounced very easy. The prototype first flew on 21 May 1975 and was a sensation at Oshkosh that summer. Rutan redesigned it for plans sales from 1976, using moldless glass-fibre construction that amateurs could master. About 2,000 were under construction by 1980. The larger Long-EZ followed in 1979, and together they were built in greater numbers than any other homebuilt type of the time. The Long-EZ was designed for readily available Lycoming engines.

From plans to prototypes

RAF also designed the twin-engine Defiant, the Quickie for Quickie Aircraft and research types such as the Grizzly. Plans sales for the VariEze ended in 1985. By then Rutan had founded Scaled Composites in April 1982 to build prototypes, and his brother Dick and Jeana Yeager were preparing to fly his Voyager around the world. The Quickie prototype of 1977 flew on an 18 hp industrial engine. Rutan’s twin-engine Defiant had first flown on 30 June 1978.

Pessoas

• Burt Rutan · founder, designer — Designed 46 aircraft; later founded Scaled Composites
• Dick Rutan · pilot — Flew the VariEze at Oshkosh 1975 and Voyager in 1986

Recordes e pioneirismos

• VariEze and Long-EZ: more built than any other homebuilt type of their time
• Voyager: first non-stop, non-refuelled flight around the world, 1986