Elbert Leander “Burt” Rutan
By Fredrick Gary Hareland, East Sierra Branch
Burt Rutan is one of the brightest shining luminaries in the aerospace world and his amazing aeronautical creations are nothing short of fantastic. Many of them have gone on to set world records in aviation that may never be broken. Rutan’s ultra-long-range Voyager, Global Flyer and his SpaceShipOne are three examples of such record-breakers.
SpaceShipOne recently won the coveted Ansari X-Prize in 2004 and the Voyager won him the very prestigious Collier Trophy for ingenious design and development of this aircraft and skilled execution of the first non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world (1987). More recently, his single jet powered Global Flyer became the first aircraft in history to complete the first solo non-stop, non-refueled flight around the world.
Since Rutan founded Rutan Aircraft Factory (RAF) back in 1974 and Scaled Composites, LLC in 1982, both headquartered in Eastern Kern’s Mojave Airport, he has designed and built literally scores of futuristic innovative aircraft and spacecraft. The really amazing fact to consider is that his company is rather small, fewer than 200 employees as compared to the giant aerospace companies, and yet he has accomplished quantum feats in aerospace engineering and design that they did not or could not compete with. On August 24, 2007, Northrop Grumman completed a 100% acquisition of Scaled Composites, however Burt Rutan will remain the company’s Senior Manager and the mission, philosophy and operating ideals will also remain unchanged.
In a big way, Northrop Grumman is paying homage to Rutan and his former company by realizing that the results of good old American innovation and ingenuity plus hard work and risk are a successful formula, one that has catapulted Burt Rutan as well as Kern County into the history books.
This essay has appeared in the 25th anniversary edition of
Bakersfield Magazine (Spring 2008)
as well as East Sierra’s anthology Planet Mojave.