RUTAN LEGACY FOR AIRPARK BEECHCRAFT TRIUMPH SET FOR HERITAGE FACILITY.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Palmdale's Plant 42 Heritage Airpark received a new addition with the arrival of a Beechcraft Triumph, an all-composite corporate jet designed by Burt Rutan.

The aircraft was transported from its former home at the Mojave Airport on a flat-bed trailer Tuesday night. The aircraft, donated by Rutan's Scaled Composites company, will be refurbished over the next few weeks and put on display later this year.

``The airpark volunteers are anxious to display one of Burt Rutan's aircraft,'' said Dick Madison, lead volunteer. ``We look forward to restoring and refurbishing this plane in recognition of all the contributions that Rutan has made to Antelope Valley's rich aerospace history.''

The airplane once was mounted on three poles in front of a Scaled Composites building at Mojave Airport. The company took it down and it was sitting on blocks next to a hangar, said Garfield Thomas, one of the airpark volunteers.

``It was gutted many years ago,'' Thomas said. ``Anything useful was taken out.''The aircraft weighs only 3,300 pounds now, compared with the 8,100 pounds it weighed when it was being flown by Scaled Composites.

The volunteers had to cut the outer wings off the aircraft so it could be transported down the highway. The volunteers will re-attach the wings and paint and buff the craft prior to it going on display. Thomas estimates the work will take two to four months.

When it is ready for display, the aircraft will again be mounted on three poles. The aircraft's landing gear was removed years ago.

The Triumph was a pressurized, 8-seat corporate jet capable of flying to altitudes of about 41,000 feet. The aircraft was designed around the then-new Williams FJ-44 turbofan engine.

In 1988, Scaled performed the first flight of the aircraft. The test program involved more than 100 hours of flight tests, confirming the performance and operating characteristics of both the engines and the airplane, according to Scaled Composites.

``The donation of Triumph gives us the opportunity to reflect upon the breadth of public and private sector aviation history in the Antelope Valley,'' said Mayor Jim Ledford.

The airpark, located at Rancho Vista Boulevard and 25th Street East, is intended to recognize Air Force Plant 42's contributions to national defense and to aerospace history. Initially an Army Air Corps base in the 1940s, and briefly a Los Angeles County airport, Plant 42 has been an aircraft production and flight test installation since 1950.

Some aircraft and spacecraft built or modified at Plant 42 include the F-86 Sabre, the top Air Force fighter during the Korean War; the F-94C; the F-100 Super Sabre; the F-104; the F-117A stealth fighter; the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes; and the B-1B and B-2 bombers.

For now, the open-air display has only a handful of aircraft, including an F-104, an F-4 Phantom, an F-86, a T-38 trainer, an A-7, an A-4, an F-100D and an F-105 Thunderchief. The park also includes a one-eighth scale model of a B-2 bomber provided by Northrop Grumman, the bomber's prime contractor.

The park will grow as aircraft and funding become available. Plans call for the park to eventually display at least 40 different aircraft with links to the Antelope Valley.

The park is being developed on 23 acres along the southern border of Plant 42, adjoining the existing Blackbird Airpark, which displays SR-71, A-12 and U-2 spy planes.

james.skeen(at)dailynews

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

(color) The Beechcraft Triumph experimental corporate jet, right, sits under the shade next to a much larger F101 Voodoo upon its arrival as the newest piece added to the Palmdale Plant 42 Heritage Airpark.

John Lazar/Staff Photographer