RUTAN TO JOIN AVIATION ELITE HALL OF FAME HAS SPOT FOR TEST PILOT.Byline: Daily NewsAntelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley pilot Dick Rutan Richard Glenn “Dick” Rutan (born July 1, 1938) is an aviator who piloted the Voyager aircraft around the world non-stop with the assistance of Jeana Yeager. He was born in Loma Linda, California, where he gained an interest in flight at a young age. will be named to the National Aviation Hall of Fame The American National Aviation Hall of Fame is located at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, east Dayton, Ohio. It is open to the public. . Rutan, World War II ace Hubert Zemke Colonel Hubert A. "Hub" Zemke was a career officer in the United States Air Force, a fighter pilot in World War II, and a leading USAAF ace. General Jimmy Doolittle praised Zemke as his "greatest fighter group commander. , Vietnam War Vietnam War, conflict in Southeast Asia, primarily fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerrilla forces aided by North Vietnam. POW Richard Stockdale and helicopter builder Frank Piasecki will be honored in July at a black-tie gala hosted by the Hall of Fame, which is located next to the U.S. Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. As an Air Force fighter pilot, Rutan flew 325 combat missions during the Vietnam War. Following his Air Force retirement with the rank of lieutenant colonel, he has flown flight test development programs for his brother's company and other aviation firms, and set numerous speed and distance records. In 1986, Rutan and co-pilot Jeana Yeager completed the first around- the-world, nonstop, nonrefueled flight in nine days in the Voyager. Rutan flew around the world in 1997 in 1997 in a LongEZ plane that he had built in 1981. Rutan's brother, Burt, who owns Scaled Composites in Mojave and designed the Voyager, the LongEZ and a number of other unconventional aircraft, was named to the Hall of Fame in 1995. The National Aviation Hall of Fame was founded in 1962 to honor outstanding American air and space pioneers. It has honored 174 men and women. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) DICK RUTAN |
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