SMITHSONIAN WANTS TO ADD GLOBALFLYER TO COLLECTION CRAFT WOULD JOIN OTHERS BY RUTAN.Byline: Staff and Wire Services MOJAVE - The Mojave-built GlobalFlyer could become the sixth Burt Rutan-designed aircraft in the Smithsonian Institution's collection. After GlobalFlyer's successful solo nonstop round-the-world flight with millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett James Stephen Fossett (born April 22, 1944 - missing September 3, 2007) is an American aviator, sailor and adventurer. Fossett made his fortune in the financial services industry and is best known for many world records including five nonstop circumnavigations of the Earth: as a at the controls, a Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Institution, research and education center, at Washington, D.C.; founded 1846 under terms of the will of James Smithson of London, who in 1829 bequeathed his fortune to the United States to create an establishment for the "increase and diffusion of spokesman said Thursday that the museum wants to acquire it. The Smithsonian is sending a letter of congratulations to Fossett and Virgin Atlantic, whose billionaire founder Sir Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950 in Shamley Green, Surrey, England), is a British entrepreneur, best known for his Virgin brand of over 360 paid for the plane and financed the round-the-world flight, spokesman Peter Golkin. The Smithsonian would be interested in the aircraft if it were available, Golkin said. The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is a museum in Washington, D.C., United States, and is the most popular of the Smithsonian museums. It maintains the largest collection of aircraft and spacecraft in the world. already contains Rutan's Voyager, which in 1986 made the first unrefueled around-the-world flight. Sometime this year his SpaceShipOne rocket plane rocket plane n. 1. An aircraft powered by one or more rocket engines. 2. An aircraft designed to carry and launch rockets. will be delivered to Washington, D.C., to go on display. The Smithsonian's collection also includes a Rutan VariEze The Rutan VariEze is a composite, canard aircraft designed by Burt Rutan. It is a fairly high-performance homebuilt, hundreds of which have been constructed. The design later evolved into the Long-EZ and other, larger cabin canard aircraft. kit plane, an unbuilt VariEze kit and a Rutan Quickie The Quickie is a light homebuilt aircraft designed by Burt Rutan, Tom Jewett, and Gene Sheehan. Produced in kit form, and marketed by the Quickie Aircraft Corporation (founded by Jewett and Sheehan), over 2000 kits were sold before production ended. , another kit plane. Rutan's Mojave-based Scaled Composites sent out its own congratulations Thursday to Fossett. ``We recognize the courage, and especially the physical stamina, that Steve demonstrated in completing this 60+ hour flight,'' the company said in a statement posted on its Web site. ``We are especially happy that the multiyear teamwork with Steve and Virgin Atlantic has culminated in another aviation record.'' Fossett on Thursday became the first person to fly around the world alone without stopping or refueling, safely touching down the jet 67 hours after taking off from a Kansas airport. Fossett, 60, already holds the record for flying solo around the globe in a balloon. He failed five times before successfully completing that flight in 2002, but needed just one try to make the trip in a plane. The millionaire from Chicago has also swam the English Channel, run the Iditarod dog sled race and driven in the 24 Hours of Le Mans car race. Rutan's Voyager aircraft completed the first unrefueled nonstop around- the-world trip in nine days in 1986 with his brother, Dick, and copilot Jeana Yeager aboard. Voyager took off and landed at Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. . Aviation pioneer Wiley Post made the first solo around-the-world trip in 1933, taking more than seven days and stopping numerous times. Fossett chose Salina Salina (səlī`nə), city (1990 pop. 42,303), seat of Saline co., central Kans., on the Smoky Hill River; founded 1858 by settlers opposed to slavery, inc. 1870. because of its 12,000-foot runway - used to train World War II bomber crews - and because being in the center of North America meant the plane would be over land in the flight's last few hours. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Adventurer Steve Fossett waves to the crowds on the runway at Salina, Kan., on Thursday after completing the first solo, unrefueled, nonstop flight around the world in the GlobalFlyer. Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion