Biographical / Historical

Dick Rutan (1 July 1938 - 3 May 2024) volunteered for service with the U.S. Air Force, serving as a Tactical Air Command fighter pilot during most of his two decades in the Air Force, from 1959 until his retirement in 1978 as lieutenant colonel. He served one tour as a captain in Vietnam.

Dick received both his solo pilot's license and driver's license on his sixteenth birthday. At the age of nineteen, Dick joined the Air Force Aviation Cadet Program, was commissioned a Lieutenant and later received a Bachelor of Science Degree at the American Technological University through the Air Force Professional Education Boot Strap Program.

In Vietnam he was stationed at Phu Cat Air Base. He flew 325 combat missions as a fighter pilot, 105 of them as a founding member of the Misty FACs, a high-risk top secret squadron of Forward Air Commanders flying the Super Sabre (F-100), pioneering the use of FastFACs in Operation Commando Sabre. While on his last strike reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam in September of 1968, Rutan (Misty 40) was hit by enemy ground fire and forced to eject from his burning F-100. He evaded enemy capture and was later rescued by a USAF Jolly Green Giant helicopter team. During his USAF career, Rutan was awarded the Silver Star, five Distinguished Flying Crosses, 16 Air Medals and the Purple Heart.

After retirement from the USAF in 1978, Dick joined his brother, Burt, as Production Manager and Chief Test Pilot for Rutan Aircraft Factory. Dick Rutan flew the test flight development program of many military and civilian experimental aircraft and set numerous world speed and distance records in his Long-EZ, a popular Rutan designed home-built airplane. Dick was awarded the Louis Bleriot Medal by the prestigious Federation Aeronautique Internationale during a ceremony in Brussels, Belgium in recognition of these record-setting flights.

In early 1981, Dick Rutan resigned from his brother's company and founded Voyager Aircraft, Inc., and prepared to complete the first-ever around the world, non-stop, non-refueled flight. On the morning of December 14, 1986, a fuel-laden Voyager took off on the history making flight with Rutan and then-partner Jeana Yeager. Nine days, three minutes and forty four seconds later, Dick set the storm-battered Voyager down on the dry lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, successfully completing the six-year quest.

Dick obtained his balloon pilot's license in 1995 (Commercial free air balloon; helium and hot air). In 1998, Dick Rutan attempted to make the first ever flight around the world in a balloon in the Global Hilton. That attempt ended three hours after takeoff when the balloon's helium cell ruptured (due to a manufacturer's defect) while the team floated at 30,000 feet. When the crew was at a safer 6,000 foot altitude, the crew dramatically bailed from the crippled craft.

From April 4th to June 24th of 1997, Dick completed The Spirit of EAA Friendship World Tour, along with flight lead, Mike Melvill. This "Around The World In 80 Nights" flight was completed in two small experimental Long-EZ aircraft that Dick and Mike had built side-by-side two decades earlier.

In May of 2000, Dick Rutan was a last minute addition to a sightseeing airplane trek to the North Pole. In 2003, Dick Rutan was elected as a director of the East Kern Airport District (EKAD). With the launches and successes of Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne, the EKAD attained status of Spaceport as part of the emerging space tourism industry. In December of 2005, Dick set another world record. This record was set in the EZ-Rocket for the longest distance in a ground launched rocket powered aircraft. He flew from the Mojave Spaceport to the California City Airport.

--Source (May 2024): Biography, https://www.dickrutan.com/biography.html