Burt Rutan admires a Peanut Scale RC version of a Rutan Pond Racer built by John Gill.

Craftmanship and modeling played an important part
in the life of this hero of aviation development

AT THIS YEAR'S AMA Convention, held in Ontario, California, in January (which is covered elsewhere in this issue), aerospace engineer/airplane developer supreme Burt Rutan was inducted into the Model Aviation Hall of Fame. His qualifications for this high honor are evident in his life's work in aviation design and development, which sprung from his involvement in designing and building model airplanes when he was young. (See page 104 of the October 2005 MA.)

    Burt came to the induction banquet straight from practicing for the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic golf tournament at the links in Palm Springs, where he played in the Pro-Am event this year.

    Burt's accomplishments in aviation engineering are far too numerous to list here, but most recently he created SpaceShipOne and earned the $10,000,000 Ansari X Prize—an incentive to "jumpstart the space tourism industry." It was offered to the first to build a privately funded and operated rocket craft that was able to carry three people to 62.5 miles.

    SpaceShipOne had to fly into and return from space successfully twice within a two-week period to capture the prize. Burt's craft achieved this in one week!

    AMA members are proud that Burt was—and still considers himself to be—a modeler. His comments to the banquet attendees were greatly anticipated because his take on our hobby/sport was sure to be insightful.

    Before the Saturday-night dinner and Hall of Fame induction Burt was given a quick tour of the convention show floor. Later he opened his remarks with two interesting observations about what he had seen. First, he complimented those who had constructed and finished the many outstanding static-display models, commenting on the superb craftsmanship and finish detailing. He said that is the type of skill he looks for in his employees.

    Second, he conveyed his surprise and dismay to see that few, if any, exhibitors were selling balsa wood. This concerned him greatly. Burt competed in the AMA Nats for the last time in 1960, and at that time building models was as much a part of the hobby/sport as flying.

    These comments led up to an amazing announcement by Burt. He is preparing to build a large number of spacecraft that will enable routine suborbital flights (and eventually orbital flights) at affordable prices. And to do this, he needs modelers—lots of modelers—to work for him! He wants gifted model craftsmen, not aerospace engineers, to help make these vehicles.
 

... he needs modelers—lots of modelers—to work for him!

    According to Burt, education and age are not factors in his search; he is looking for people who take pride in producing extremely accurate and clean work with their hands. He predicts an even larger call for people with these skills in the near future.

    Those of you who have the qualifications for Burt's new vision should consider dropping him a résumé of your modeling experience. Wouldn't that be the job of a lifetime?

After his induction and speech Burt graciously agreed to be interviewed by MA staff members. He was on a tight schedule and had only a few moments to chat, but the insights gained from the few questions asked should be of great interest to readers.

MA: How did you get started in model aviation, and was your love of flight and things that fly triggered by your modeling involvement or was it a product of a pre-existing interest in flight?

BR: I don't know how I got started. I did pick up pieces of broken airplanes and build different configurations as a kid. I don't remember that; it's just something that my folks told me that I did. My brother [Dick, who is five years older] would build kits and abandon them when they crashed, and I would pick up the pieces and build an airplane.

    And I remember that when I would go to a hobby shop that I'd be looking at the balsa wood rack, not at the kits. I wanted to try something different and I don't know why.

    I was into model airplanes before anyone in my family had an aviation passion. My dad was a dentist and he went down and learned to fly later. And then he and another doctor and a farmer got together and bought this Cessna 140. But that was long after I had become involved in model airplanes.

    As it turned out, all three of us kids went into aviation. My brother was an Air Force pilot and he is an airplane developer, and my sister is a stewardess.

MA: What type of models did you enjoy building and flying?

BR: Just everything that I could at that time. We used to go to WAM [Western Associated Modelers] meets up in the San Francisco Bay area. They were all Control Line. I did Stunt, I did Rat Racing, Scale, Combat, and Control Line Carrier.

    The radios [RC systems] were so bad in those days and they were expensive too, so I didn't really get into radio control until I ended up going to college. I'm talking about the time period from about, say, 1952 through 1961 when I did all the model airplane competitive stuff.
 

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