Editor’s Note: No celebration of KITPLANES’ 40th anniversary would be complete without noting the contributions and influence of one Burt Rutan, who upended aircraft-design orthodoxy and helped define the kind of airplane that could be built in a garage, by a pure amateur, that would fly well and, perhaps most importantly, do so with incredible efficiency. By using small, readily available engines and relatively low-cost materials, Rutan brought an egalitarian air to his unusual-looking airplanes. Even today, four decades after what was arguably the canard heyday, various manifestations present themselves at AirVenture and pop into local fly-ins to amaze spectators.
This year is the 50th anniversary of the VariEze but because the VariEze changed the landscape of homebuilt aircraft, this year is what Burt Rutan likes to call the “composite canard revolution”! That’s not an unreasonable assumption considering most anything composite flying today has some connection to the VariEze.
And while Rutan Aircraft has long been out of business, support and enthusiasm remains from the Rutan Aircraft Flying Experience (RAFE) and its members. RAFE’s mission statement is to “preserve and promote Burt Rutan designs.” One way to accomplish this is to display and fly RAFE’s fleet of 10 donated aircraft at airshows, fly-ins and other aviation events. The big one, of course, is AirVenture, which has already happened by the time you read this, but the lineup for the big show will include 10 examples of Burt’s most iconic designs as part of what RAFE calls the Rutan Reunion Flight.
The lineup includes the VariEze, Long-EZ, VariViggen, Quickie, Solitaire, Defiant, Catbird and asymmetric-twin Boomerang. All were picked because of their uniqueness and accomplishments. In the lineup are two ocean-crossing Defiants, world-record-holding VariEzes and Long-EZs, four aircraft that are one of a kind or the only known flying examples, and a father and son and father and daughter flying airplanes in the airshow!
The Beginning
The VariViggen was Burt’s first design he sold plans for. The Viggen flying in the Rutan Reunion Flight is the only known flying example and is unique because it’s not just the only flying Viggen—it’s the newest Viggen. It was found in a storage facility in Little Rock, Arkansas, as an almost-finished aircraft that never flew. RAFE volunteers spent over a year finishing it and it received its airworthiness certificate in June 2022.
Also among the 10 Rutan examples to be shown at AirVenture is Keith Welsh’s award-winning Quickie, built in 1989. Keith is probably one of the highest-time Quickie pilots. He’s flown his Q1 to Oshkosh several times and was part of the 2019 Rutan Reunion Flight. Keith was honored by Burt who wrote in his pilot operating handbook, “This is the finest Quickie I have ever seen. Great work.” The Quickie is unique, boasting a cruise speed of 105 mph with a 20-hp Onan engine that burns just 2 gph, making it one of the most efficient aircraft ever flown.
Table for One?
The Rutan Solitaire, a self-launching sailplane Burt designed to win a glider design competition, is among the key Rutan designs, and it’s the rarest of all Rutan homebuilts, with only 18 built. Only two are known to be flying. One is part of RAFE and the Solitaire flying in this year’s show is owned by Harold Bickford and on loan to RAFE. It is being piloted by Ivan Briggs.
Burt Rutan is credited with taking on many shortcomings of conventional aircraft design—like a tendency to stall—and applied his brain to twin-engine aircraft with the Defiant. With a twist: Izzy Brigg’s Defiant was built in Norway. He purchased it last year and rather than disassemble it and have it shipped, he spent months commuting back and forth to Norway preparing to fly it across the North Atlantic. The AirVenture display is expected to have another globe-crossing Defiant, this one built by Steve Sorenson. He built it with the goal of flying it across the Pacific to Australia, which he did! He’s also flown it coast to coast four times and to Alaska and the Bahamas six times! These are serious traveling machines.
Enviably Catty
Zach Reeder and the Catbird have to be part of this 10-airplane collection. Although the Catbird was never offered as a kit—this example is the only one—it’s still a significant design. Burt designed the Catbird while Beechcraft owned Scaled Composites. It was slated to be the replacement for the Bonanza but Beech dropped the idea. The Catbird first appeared at Oshkosh in 1988, wowing the crowd with its unusual pilot-in-the-middle seating layout. Burt flew it for only a few years in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Afterward, the one and only Catbird was suspended inverted from the ceiling in the Scaled Composites facility. In 2010, shortly before Burt Rutan retired, Zach Reeder, Jim Reed and Mike Melvill removed the airplane from the ceiling and restored it to flying condition, and now it flies again!
The Essentials
The Long-EZ is probably the most popular and prolific of Burt’s homebuilt designs and thousands have been built. Jim Price and his Long-EZ are part of the Reunion Flight; it’s the same airplane he used to break the FAI world altitude record 28 years ago. How high? Try 35,027 feet.
Also representing the Long-EZ is Chuck Remar in RAFE’s “David Brown” Long-EZ, which is another world traveler and is the first and only Long-EZ to ever land in Cuba.
VariEze’s Golden
Since this year is really all about the VariEze’s 50th anniversary and its design kicking off the composite canard revolution there will be several VariEzes participating at AirVenture. Perhaps among the best known is Gary Hertzler and his record-holding VariEze. Built 44 years ago, Gary has flown it more than 5000 hours. He holds records for straight line, closed course, non-refuel distance and the CAFE Challenge in aircraft efficiency.
The lead VariEze of the Rutan Reunion Flight is flown by Leif Johnson, a former F-15 pilot and current airline pilot. He and his VariEze named Speedy are regular competitors in the AirVenture Cup race. Another VariEze in the flight is from former Air Force and airline pilot Ken Swain. He built his VariEze in 1976 in only 14 months and has brought it to Oshkosh every year since! That is 47 years. Ken is probably the most senior VariEze builder still flying the airplane he built.
The other VariEze in the group represents the future generation of Rutan designs. Rylie Remar is 21 years old, just graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and on a college student’s budget purchased a VariEze that needed lots of work. To get the airplane ready in time for the Rutan Reunion, she fully embedded herself in the life at RAFE’s base in Covington, Tennessee. She spent nearly two months sleeping on a couch in the hangar and working 14-hour days under the mentorship of Robert Harris, the Jet Guys team, RAFE volunteer and Board Member Bob Stevens and many others, getting the full experience of what it is like to restore an airplane with a time crunch.
These are just a few of Rutan’s designs we expect to see at AirVenture this year—and, for that matter, still manage to make the show year after year. But the future is important. Part of the RAFE mission to “preserve and promote” involves inspiring the next generation of aviators, to capture their imagination the way Burt’s unorthodox airplanes did for enthusiasts five decades ago.
