Burt Rutan
Burt Rutan
Born
June 17, 1943 (1943-06-17)
Estacada, OR,
United States
Occupation
Aerospace Engineer
Spouse(s)
Tonya Rutan
Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan (born June
17, 1943 in Estacada, Oregon) is an Americ-
an aerospace engineer noted for his original-
ity
in designing
light,
strong, unusual-
looking, energy-efficient aircraft. He is often
described as the "second true innovator" in
the field of aerospace materials technology;
his most important predecessor was German
engineer Hugo Junkers, who pioneered the
design of all-metal aircraft in 1915. He is
most famous for his design of the record-
breaking Voyager, which was the first plane
to fly around the world without stopping or
refueling, and the sub-orbital spaceplane
SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X-Prize
in 2004 for becoming the first privately fun-
ded spacecraft to enter the realm of space
twice within a two week period.
Biography
Born in Estacada, Oregon, 30 miles southeast
of Portland, and raised in Dinuba, California,
Rutan displayed an early interest in aircraft
design. By the time he was eight years old he
was designing and building model aircraft.
His first solo flight piloting an airplane was in
an Aeronca Champ in 1959, when he was six-
teen. In 1965 he graduated third in his class
from California Polytechnic University with a
BS degree in aeronautical engineering.
From 1965 to 1972 Rutan worked for the
U.S. Air Force at Edwards Air Force Base as
a flight test project engineer, working on
nine separate projects including fighter spin
tests and the LTV XC-142 VSTOL transport.
He left to become director of the Bede Test
Center for Bede Aircraft, in Newton, Kansas,
a position he held until 1974. At that time Jim
Bede still had a powered version of a Sch-
weizer SGS 2-32 sailplane which he had built
with the intent of achieving a nonstop flight
around the world. That effort had effectively
ceased in 1969, before Rutan was hired
(Bede had not announced that the project
was stopped, but he had moved onto other
projects, effectively abandonin