Rutan, Rutan Aircraft Factory and Scaled Composites Project List

Finally, there is one little detail that struck me in this slide, which is similar to the one shown in the previous page of this thread, except for one detail: the UAV that we all know as the Northrop X-47 Pegasus is described here only as "Vought". Maybe it was said elsewhere before, but I personally wasn't aware that Vought had originated the project before Northrop took over...

Also please note that the picture supposed to depict the Task Vantage (jet-powered Long-EZ) shows in fact a standard model.
 

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I have created a new web page which is a thumbnail gallery (later to be clickable) of all the designs that Burt Rutan and/or Scaled Composites are known to have been associated with. There may be a couple of things missing here and there, but this is a great way to start for someone who wants to get the jist of Rutan's work and design evolution!

Please give some feedback if you can!!

http://stargazer2006.online.fr/gallery/index.htm
 
Amusing that there's still no clue what the "Manta" was!

Very nice layout. I'd personally cut it in half, with the "Model unknown" projects listed separately. Makes it a bit easier to go through everything with a known designator.

What's that "A-12" design?
 
SOC said:
Amusing that there's still no clue what the "Manta" was!

Very nice layout. I'd personally cut it in half, with the "Model unknown" projects listed separately. Makes it a bit easier to go through everything with a known designator.

What's that "A-12" design?
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Thanks for the feedback.

The "A-12" was Burt Rutan's very first design. It was a model flown in 1962 at a time when the Lockheed "A-11" sporting the buzz number FX-934 had just been revealed. As a joke, Burt called his first personal design the "A-12" and painted "FX-935" on it... (see attachment).
 

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Stargazer2006 said:
The "A-12" was Burt Rutan's very first design. It was a model flown in 1962 at a time when the Lockheed "A-11" sporting the buzz number FX-934 had just been revealed. As a joke, Burt called his first personal design the "A-12" and painted "FX-935" on it... (see attachment).
Click to expand...

That same picture is in Dan Linehan's new Burt Rutan book (which I received today ;D).

The book doesn't attempt to be comprehensive, but does cover the evolution of Burt's designs over the decades. There's a partial designation list in the appendix that covers the following model numbers: 1, 27, 28, 31, 32-SP, 33, 35, 40, 45, 49, 54, 59, 61, 61-B, 61-PD, 61-R, 68, 69, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78-1, 81, 97, 111, 112, 113, 115, 120, 127, 133, 133-B, 143, 144, 151, 158, 173, 175, 179, 181, 191, 202, 226, 226-B, 231, 233, 247, 257, 267, 271, 276, 280, 281, 287, 302, 309, 311, 312, 313, 316, 317, 318, 326, 339, 348 and 356.

The appendix also list various RAF and Scaled projects without model numbers, eg PARLC, Scarab, Lima1, Su-25 ROAR, Roton etc.
 
Wow Stargazer: an awesome work (as we all expected from you). My best compliments


Nico
 
FutureSpaceTourist said:
The book doesn't attempt to be comprehensive, but does cover the evolution of Burt's designs over the decades. There's a partial designation list in the appendix that covers the following model numbers: 1, 27, 28, 31, 32-SP, 33, 35, 40, 45, 49, 54, 59, 61, 61-B, 61-PD, 61-R, 68, 69, 72, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78-1, 81, 97, 111, 112, 113, 115, 120, 127, 133, 133-B, 143, 144, 151, 158, 173, 175, 179, 181, 191, 202, 226, 226-B, 231, 233, 247, 257, 267, 271, 276, 280, 281, 287, 302, 309, 311, 312, 313, 316, 317, 318, 326, 339, 348 and 356.

The appendix also list various RAF and Scaled projects without model numbers, eg PARLC, Scarab, Lima1, Su-25 ROAR, Roton etc.
Click to expand...

Yes. I found that list online in the free excerpt and actually used it a few weeks ago to update my own list:
 

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"I found after working on 40 airplanes in 40 years it probably is impossible to stop," Rutan said in an exclusive interview. "So I'm working on a new one."
Rutan provided few details about the new project, saying only that it uses new technology and is a "small, light thing".
The design has progressed far enough to be assigned a designation in Rutan's personal system - Model 372-3, Rutan said.
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/rutan-starts-work-on-new-light-aircraft-364244/
 
Great news!! Thanks for sharing. For a man like Burt, the best idea is always the next one, and that's why he is such an admirable visionary.
 
It is also true that Scaled Composites still has very talented designers, even though it is widely identified with Rutan. For example, Scaled Composites project manager Corey Bird is the designer of the Symmetry, which is widely credited as the finest general aviation aircraft ever built. Bird's latest design project was known internally at Scaled as "Project Old School", Rutan said, because it was managed in the same style that produced Voyager in the earliest days of the company. Project Old School is known publicly now as the Northrop Grumman Firebird, an optionally manned unmanned air vehicle revealed on this blog earlier this year.
"I had nothing at all to do with the design of that airplane," Rutan said. "It doesn't require Burt Rutan to do phenomenal, good things, and do them efficiently."​
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http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2011/11/what-happens-to-scaled-composi.html
 
Didn't he fire Krakow when he found out he was doing something philosophically similar (Icon)?
 
Hi all,
I find a similar explication on the Al Fin blog (found googling around):
14 NOVEMBER 2011
Rumours of Rutan: Design Revolution in Retirement?

Aircraft designer Burt Rutan is working on a new aviation project in the Idaho lake house where he retired only seven months ago after a 45-year career that produced SpaceShipOne, Voyager and dozens of other ground-breaking air vehicles.

"I found after working on 40 airplanes in 40 years it probably is impossible to stop," Rutan said in an exclusive interview. "So I'm working on a new one." _FlightGlobal</blockquote>
Burt Rutan is one of the few winners of the coveted "Al FinPortrait of Competence Award." When such a person retires from his day job, he is not likely to sit around twiddling his thumbs. There are rumours that Burt Rutan is working on a new design for a flying boat.There’s been plenty of speculation within the aviation world about whether Rutan would stop designing airplanes now that he’s retired from Scaled Composites. Imaginative and prolific, Rutan has been at the leading edge of aerospace design since the 1970s, and few thought he would simply play golf all the time. True to form, Rutan is working on a new aircraft design.

Rutan is famously secretive about designs that have yet to fly, though now that he is “retired” he is letting out a few more details than usual. The engineer told the Experimental Aviation Association he is tinkering with a design influenced to some extent by the lakes and rivers of Idaho, where he now lives after spending more than 40 years in the Mojave Desert. He also mentioned being influenced by the unusual Russian air/watercraft, like the MD-160 Lun-class ekranoplan, he saw shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union.

...What Rutan did say is he hopes to design a very efficient winged boat that could be used on a major body of water like Lake Coeur d’Alene and converted into a seaplane to navigate the small lakes and rivers nearby. There are a few other designs out there that use ground effect to “fly” just above the surface of the water, but no one’s seen anything like the design — known simply as 372-3 — Rutan is hinting at.</blockquote>I dont know where the artis impression came from but certainly is not related with the latest Burt's work</blockquote>Nico</blockquote>
</blockquote>[/color][/size][/color]
 
AeroFranz said:
Didn't he fire Krakow when he found out he was doing something philosophically similar (Icon)?
Click to expand...

Is this the design you're referring to (from the Flying cars thread)?:

index.php
 
Yes. The Icon A5 was conceived by former Scaled Composites workers. See attachment.
 

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So Burt's working on a WIG. I'm definitely be looking forward to seeing it.

Edit: OK after reading through it looks like maybe more of a flying boat with "folding" wings? Or maybe it's like a WIG with low aspect ratio wings and then maybe the "flight" wings extend out from within the low aspect ratio wings for flight, like some of the telescoping wings the Russians studied way back around WW2?
 
Ok, I apologize for the very vague reference, but i remember something like a small catamaran flying boat UAV that folded the wings up, at which point they acted like rigid sails and could autonomously harness wind for propulsion.
I can't remember if this was a DARPA program, but that's what Burt's quotes made me think of.
 
From the Stratolaunch website:

readmore_launch_2.jpg


Press Kit: http://stratolaunch.com/presskit/Download_PressKit.pdf
 
The video from the press kit (the website is really slow, too much traffic?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XvkXweoJKs

Burt Rutan said that he wasn't directly involved with it (similar to the WK2/SS2) but at the press conference Paul Allen said that Rutan has 'already started' on Stratolaunch at Mojave. That hardly look as a retirement!
 
SOC said:
Yeah, the magazine didn't have an image of the model. I've never been able to find one, either!
Click to expand...


Here is the desktop model of the Scaled Composites aircraft they referred to as the "Manta." The public relations personnel only stated that no money ever came through to build the planned prototype.
 

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Fantastic find, vulture! It really IS Rutan Week on SPF, or so it seems!
 
I knew I'd seen that shape before...

Obviously Burt Rutan does not always start from scratch. He based the "Manta" on Vincent Burnelli's 1947 fighter design.
 

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vulture said:
SOC said:
Yeah, the magazine didn't have an image of the model. I've never been able to find one, either!
Click to expand...


Here is the desktop model of the Scaled Composites aircraft they referred to as the "Manta." The public relations personnel only stated that no money ever came through to built the planned prototype.
Click to expand...


I wonder which military project this "Manta" was related to ???? B)
 
vulture said:
I wonder which military project this "Manta" was related to ??? ? B)
Click to expand...

Wasn't it a communications relay like one of the planned Proteus missions?
 
quellish said:
vulture said:
I wonder which military project this "Manta" was related to ??? ? B)
Click to expand...

Wasn't it a communications relay like one of the planned Proteus missions?
Click to expand...


Not too sure, but could be connected with one or two of Rutan's/Scaled Composites' projects in the 1990s to 2001 time frame - namely a project called "SEEKERS" or even "Project Zipper"
B)
 

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"Zipper" is new to me. Where did you find it, and are you positive it is Scaled-related?
 
Stargazer2006 said:
"Zipper" is new to me. Where did you find it, and are you positive it is Scaled-related?
Click to expand...


Yes I am very sure that it is connected to a Scaled Composites project, and also that Scaled Composites also has a section that works on classified projects for the military and also work for the major contractors such as Lockheed Martin (i.e. Skunk Works), as well as Northrop Grumman. "Project Zipper" is apparently a classified project and one can also see this patch in Trevor Paglen's small book on secret patches.


Cheers B)
 
vulture said:
Yes I am very sure that it is connected to a Scaled Composites project, and also that Scaled Composites also has a section that works on classified projects for the military and also work for the major contractors such as Lockheed Martin (i.e. Skunk Works), as well as Northrop Grumman. "Project Zipper" is apparently a classified project and one can also see this patch in Trevor Paglen's small book on secret patches.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your answer! OR "Project Zipper" could simply be the codename of Scaled's "Skunk Works" (what made me think of this is the subtitle: "We make threats, not promises.") But of course it's only guess work on my part.
 
http://www.flyingmag.com/news/documentary-highlight-burt-rutans-new-plane?src=SOC&dom=tw
 
Thanks a lot for this link, flateric. This definitely made my day! Some great pics there too.
 
Skyblazer said:
I knew I'd seen that shape before...

Obviously Burt Rutan does not always start from scratch. He based the "Manta" on Vincent Burnelli's 1947 fighter design.
Click to expand...

A sweet serendipity from the gallery at flateric's linked page: Burt Rutan working on his computer with the same bizarre model at his side...
 

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http://www.burtrutan.com/
 

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