Back to the Future: Burt Rutan and Scaled Composites (aircraft Part III)

Members seemed to based on the reduced interest in the aircraft remains, additional lay-ri it XD. Illusions about the future of mankind always, fantasy world in ten years, fifty years after the world, a century after the world. These vision was to achieve it? We are now the world, and fifty years ago people thought, Fifty years later the world What are the same, What are the different? Back to the Future series to bring you back to the past, when people see the eyes of these future is what.

The third protagonist is not an aircraft, but a company. Scaled Composites as the original Rutan Aircraft Factory, is a well-known aircraft designer Burt Rutan in 1974 the company was set up. Over the years changed hands several times Scaled Composites, is now an allDepartment of Grumman, however, Burt Rutan has been to stay in the company, and participated in almost all the important Scaled Composites aircraft design. Aircraft from Scaled Composites, Rutan can see how the avant-garde design ideas @ @.

Rutan VariEze

Rutan will mainly focus on the early days of small, lightweight self-made small aircraft. VariEze on the map introduced in 1975, is one of the most famous of them. Rutan is doing a good job playing himself, did not expect the air show in Oshkosh popular, so he would go back and redesign the aircraft into a group of people at home will allow any group to sell the aircraft specification. By 1980, there were about 300 such aircraft in flight.

VariEze most important feature of the slender rear main wing, and the provision of lift of the front wings (usually the first fighter wing to provide control, not the lift), looks a bit like seismoelectric ah XD. That the front wings to provide lift Burt Rutan is a common feature of many of the design. Rutan 4 VariEze is into the United States National Space Museum, one of the aircraft. Rutan Voyager

Voyager is the first aircraft did not land, not refueling the aircraft around the world week in December 4, 1986 take-off and spent nine days and 3 hours 44 minutes before returning to the landing place, the whole 40,212 kilometers. One of the two drivers is Dick Rutans brother Burt, the aircrafts design is Burt, Dick and Jeana Yeager, another driver with a meal out of the discussion.

Voyager has a small wing of the host, and a registered trademark of Rutans front wings, along with the two engines - the engine before take-off time only to help increase the use of power, until the aircraft reached an average height of 3.4 kilometers after the cruise. Voyager is the second aircraft into the United States Rutan and Space Museums aircraft, and the Wright brothers first aircraft, Spirit of St. Louis, Bell X-1, such as aircraft placed together.

Scaled Composites Boomerang

Burt out of the aircraft are the strange name, if an aircraft can be the fastest aircraft known as the Burt, it must have a really strange XD. It is basically a small plane twin-body aircraft, but only a body, there are people sitting, and the other is just a simple engine. In order to balance the aircraft in flight, Boomerang has done a lot of amendments, such as its wings is a little S type, the level of the back side of a long side of the tail is short. BV141 only about a more uneven than it has now XD.

Scaled Composites Proteus

Proteus is a time to stay for the needs of high-altitude experimental aircraft, relying on its side by side double main wing, you can hover in the high altitude of 18,300 meters up to 18 hours. Burt wanted to like this kind of an aircraft can be used as a temporary use of telecommunications base station, but was later NASA and Grummanget to do a pile of all sorts of experiments. At present, the aircraft are allGrumman.

White Knight and SpaceShipOne

White Knight is the Scaled Composites and SpaceShipOne to participate in big empty Ansari X Prize competition entries. Successful competition to 10 million U.S. dollars in prize money, to be launched in two weeks twice a manned spacecraft into space (the space is defined as more than 100km away from the surface). SpaceShipOne in September 29, 2004 completion of the first space flight, and then on October 4 in the completion of the second, by the money, but Scaled Composites to develop the two planes crashed on 100 million U.S. dollars spent, the X Prize Instead, the money is not the focus of civil construction of the first manned spacecraft could be the reason it is doing it!

White Knight (White Knight) is the first half of the plane, from the design to see it very clear there are many places refer to Proteus. SpaceShipOne is hanging below the plane of the small aircraft, White Knight will it be to a very high altitude, and then to their own power (composite rocket engine) 100KM fly high after the engine shut down, the spacecraft entered the close The free-fall glider until you return to the ground.

SpaceShipOne is not strictly speaking in the general public to imagine the kind of space - it can not enter the track - on the contrary, more like an ultra-high-altitude aircraft. But in any case, 100KM a high degree of official recognition is the boundary of the universe, in the success of SpaceShipOne flight, Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic signed immediately with developer version of SpaceShipTwo, the future will be able to spend money to space a visit. SpaceShipOne is the third plane into the Rutan Aircraft and Space Museum, and the Voyager and other predecessors together.

Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer

Global Flyer and the Voyager is a challenge as the world record for long-distance flight, but after two decades of scientific and technological development, Global Flyer has become the engine of a jet engine upgrade, a week around the world have greatly reduced to more than 60 hours. Global Flyer has carried out three global flight in February 2005 the first time since the relationship between the oil spill, although the completion of the flight, failed to break the distance record, only a single flight for the first time the title. The second time in February 2006, the Steve Fosset succeeded in driving the Voyager of the distance to break the record, in 76-hour flight, flying a total of 41,467 kilometers. The third is to break the take-off and landing sites for the same flight the longest record (second take-off from the United States, Florida, turned around, and then flew to the British landing), taking off from Kansas, after the 40 thousand seven hundred and seven kilometers in the back to the landing site.

Global Flyers very, very low air resistance - even if the engine idle speed operation, a minute only 200 meters away. 15 kilometers from the cruising altitude gliding to the ground, but also an hour and 15 minutes. Global Flyer is Burt Rutans fourth aircraft into the United States and Space Museums aircraft, and Voyager, but not together - because only relatively large Global Flyer, the main hall does not fit, it is on the branch Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (Diamond II is a variant of the Village Museum) years.