World’s Only Flying VariViggen Fifty-Years On

As Thomas Edison, Gottlieb Daimler, and Ron Popeil were to the furtherance of man’s terrestrial technologies, so Burt Rutan is to the advancement of humankind’s aeronautical endeavors.

Rutan’s light, strong, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient air and space craft—which the Los Angeles Times characterized as “ … taking on all types of sleek shapes and sizes, looking more like the work of a sculptor than an engineer—have won him accolades and acknowledgements the likes of: the NAA’s Collier and Wright Brothers Memorial Trophies, the NSS’s Von Braun and Robert A. Heinlein Awards, the Daniel Guggenheim Medal, the Bob Hoover Trophy, the Presidential Citizens Medal, and induction into the National Aviation Hall of Fame.

The most famous of Rutan’s designs are Voyager, which in 1986 was the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling; SpaceShipOne, the suborbital craft that won him the $10-million Ansari X Prize; and the Long-EZ and VariEze models, which—along with making Rutan’s a household name—popularized both the canard-configuration and the use of composite materials in aircraft construction.

The forebear of Rutan’s famous, globe-trotting, space-going, industry-changing machines was a strange and wondrous craft he dubbed the VariViggen on account of its sporting a canard—after the fashion of SAAB’s 37 Viggen fighter aircraft. Rutan began building the VariViggen in 1968 and flew the rear wing, forward canard, pusher-prop beastie in 1972. In lieu of wind tunnel testing, Rutan—a pragmatist—worked-out the VariViggen‘s airfoil geometry by strapping a model of the thing atop his station-wagon and measuring airflow and aerodynamic loads while driving at high-speed along empty roads.

2022 marks the fiftieth-anniversary of the VariViggen’s first flight and Oshkosh appearance. Alas, only one flying specimen of the historic aircraft reportedly remains.

The world’s sole VariViggen belongs—fittingly—to the Rutan Aircraft Flying Experience—the world’s sole IRS-approved 501c3 non-profit dedicated to Burt Rutan's homebuilt designs. The organization is working hard to get the airplane, which they call Lady Vi, to AirVenture. Regrettably, the harsh economic realities of this weird epoch have exhausted the outfit’s funds. Ergo, the good, hard-working, nobly-intentioned folks at RAFE are looking for a spot of help.

Parties inclined to contribute to the worthwhile and timely enterprise of getting Lady Vi to Oshkosh are invited to visit RAFE’s GoFundMe page at: https://www.gofundme.com/f/50th-anniversary-of-the-rutan-variviggen. Donations will keep Lady Vi in maintenance, parts, fuel (no small matter nowadays) and the myriad additional expenses known to all aircraft owners and operators.

FMI: www.RutanAFE.org