Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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I often receive emails that have familiar names attached and I am careful not to forward their addresses to anyone else. This particular email caused me to take notice and do a little research on the person who sent it originally. It was signed by Capt. Guy Gruters, along with some impressive quotes. It also gave his website – www.guygruters.net. My interest was piqued when I read he was a motivational POW speaker and an author of a book titled "Locked Up With God." Below are some of the q...
The annual Veterans Day ceremony was sponsored by Mojave Transportation Museum Foundation, Mojave Chamber of Commerce and Mojave Air & Spaceport. The ceremony was coordinated and emceed by Cathy Hansen, Mojave Transportation Museum President. A letter was read from Congressman Kevin McCarthy that expressed his appreciation of the chance to honor and recognize our veterans in Kern County communities. "The selfless service and contributions made by these valiant soldiers, sailors, Marines and airm...
On Oct. 19, a special gathering of Rutan fans and Long-EZ builder/pilots landed at Mojave Air & Spaceport to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the production Long-EZ First Flight at Mojave. Close to 100 Rutan designs filled the flightline. Mojave Transportation Museum volunteers organized this celebration and they thank Ben Watson of Seattle, Wash. for suggesting the idea. Watson is in the process of building a Long-EZ and is a licensed A&P mechanic. "One of the greatest tim=es of my life,"...
On Oct. 19 at Mojave Air & Spaceport, the Mojave Transportation Museum will feature a special Plane Crazy Saturday by celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first flight of the production model of the Rutan Long EZ aircraft. We are keeping our Plane Crazy event consistent on the third Saturday of the month, but the "first flight" was really on Oct. 12. Dick and Burt Rutan did some digging to find logbook entries of the first flight. Burt said, "The basic production LongEZ N79RA, with the...
Life is so different for me now since the passing of my youngest son, Douglas. Not only do I try to keep up with my daily tasks at home, but I am trying to maintain his home and take care of his many feral kitties. I am overwhelmed with the feeding and caring of his personal cats and the wild colonies outside. I love them all, but need some help with trapping to spay and neuter. I cannot afford over $100 per animal and need to find some assistance from an organization that loves these little...
The aircraft in the photo is a rare Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IXc/e that underwent flight testing here at Mojave Airport over a decade ago before it was shipped to the TAM Air Museum Americana in Brazil. The Supermarine Spitfire is a legend in British aviation history and along with the Hawker Hurricane, successfully defended England in the Battle of Britain (1940-1941) against Germany's Luftwaffe. We were so lucky to actually hear the "Spit" flying over Mojave in July 2007. It was painted in...
It is important to have dreams at every age in your life. Tom Reilly, master warbird aircraft restorer, has had his share of dreams restoring aircraft and flying them to the EAA AirVenture annual fly-in's in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Quotes from the EAA AirVenture website: "I flew a B-17 there in 1987, and that was good, I flew a B-24 there in 1990 and won Grand Champion, and that was good," Tom said. "This year, I flew an XP-82 there. There's lots of B-17s there, and there's a couple B-24s, but...
Burt and Dick Rutan still have a "rock star" following at Oshkosh, the annual gathering of homebuilders and aviation enthusiasts. This year marked the "Golden Anniversary" of the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh – 50 years of aviation spirit, camaraderie and passion. "I've been to Oshkosh 40 times, the first one in 1971," said Burt Rutan during an interview after stepping out of Rob Scherer's Starship. "Since debuting the VariViggen at EAA Oshkosh in 1972, Oshkosh has been an important part of my c...
Robert J. "Bob" Gilliland, call sign "Dutch 51," who has logged more experimental supersonic test flights above Mach 2 and Mach 3 than any other pilot, passed away on July 4. He was the SR-71 project test pilot for and personal friends with Kelly Johnson, at the Lockheed Skunk Works. Bob made the first flight of the SR-71 Blackbird on Dec. 22, 1964 from Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif. The flight lasted one hour, at a speed of over 1,000 mph. Bob was present at all of the SpaceShipOne launches in...
At the end of May, my youngest son, Douglas Burdick, apparently died from a heart attack at the age of 51. I couldn't believe that the clocks kept moving and time kept moving on. My life totally stopped the moment I found him. My life will never be the same. The sudden loss of one of your children is devastating. What a great and multi-faceted life Douglas led. When he was very young, his father and I were deeply involved in aviation and had the opportunity to work with Bill Barnes, Pancho's...
Can you believe that it was 15 years ago on June 21, 2004, that SpaceShipOne and Mike Melvill rocketed into aerospace history? Mike Melvill piloted SpaceShipOne on its first flight past the edge of space, (100 kilometers or 62 miles) Flight 15P, becoming the first commercial astronaut and the 434th person to go into space. SpaceShipOne, a Paul G. Allen project with Scaled Composites, launched the first private manned vehicle beyond the Earth's atmosphere. The successful launch demonstrated that...
Sixteen years ago this month, you may recall seeing a Chinook (CH-47) helicopter at Mojave Airport. That may not sound too unusual to most people, but what was slung under the Chinook was very unusual! The Rotary Rocket Roton ATV (Atmospheric Test Vehicle) was hanging under the U.S. Army helicopter to be flown to its new home at Classic Rotors Museum on Ramona Airport near San Diego. There were some exciting moments when the Roton started oscillating laterally to the point of discontinuing the...
Our nation lost another World War II veteran and member of the "greatest generation," on April 9. Lt. Col. Richard Eugene Cole, USAF (ret.) passed away in Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas at the age of 103. Cole was born Sept. 7, 1915 in Dayton, Ohio and was captivated by airplanes and the pilots. His boyhood idol was James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle and after two years of college, he was accepted for aviation training before the war. Can you imagine how overwhelmed this 26-year-old...
Saying Stratolaunch, the aircraft with a 385-foot wingspan, is huge is an understatement! I was between some hangars, behind the flightline fence and saw the chase plane take off, shortly thereafter I heard the six jet engines roaring with take-off power and getting closer, as it lifted from runway 30. All of a sudden I saw a gigantic shadow and as this colossal airplane became visible, I gasped – it literally took my breath away! She was climbing into the Mojave skies so gracefully. What a m...
In the early 1980s, Burt Rutan was the world's acknowledged expert in tandem wing, all-composite pusher aircraft. He was approached by Beechcraft to build a 62 percent scale proof-of-concept (POC) prototype aircraft to flight test the configuration, while they began a preliminary design of full-size prototypes. Burt's POC was completed in record time and made its first flight in August 1983. Although he flew the POC Starship, he never had the opportunity to fly one of the 53 production aircraft...
I recently saw in the news that the good-looking star of the TV show "Air Wolf," Jan Michael Vincent sadly passed away. Memories of how many of the scenes for that show in the 1980s were filmed at Mojave Airport and how one of our favorite pilots in the film industry flew one of the helicopters in the second and third season came to mind. Vincent's character in the series was the Vietnam veteran and loner, called, Stringfellow Hawke. He was a helicopter pilot who was orphaned at 12 years old....
In 1963, at the age of 20, Burt Rutan was inspired to design a homebuilt aircraft after seeing the North American XB-70 Valkyrie and the Saab 37 Viggen. He called his creation a VariViggen and was at work with the initial plan while attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1964-1965. He earned his BS degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1965. Later while living in Lancaster, Calif., Burt built a model of the VariViggen and conducted some 'wind-tunnel' testing on roads on the east side of...
At a recent Mojave Air & Spaceport board meeting, General Manager/CEO Karina Drees announced that there was a request for a discussion item to be brought to the attention of the MASP Board. She stated that she had been approached by a couple of people, Cory Bird, vice president and 28 year veteran of Scaled Composites and other members of the airport community, for adding the name "Rutan Field" to the Mojave Air & Spaceport name. Board President Andrew Parker stated that everyone could discuss...
Such sad news for family, friends and patients of Dr. Phil Coussens and his RN wife, Ellen Coussens, who both passed away within days of each other during Christmas week. They often attended Plane Crazy Saturday at Mojave Air & Spaceport. Philip Cameron Coussens was born in Los Angeles on July 28, 1927 and passed away at his home in Rosamond Skypark on Dec. 24, 2018. Ellen June Coussens was born on March 26, 1939 in Sidney, MT and passed away at home in Rosamond on Dec. 28, 2018. Elle had been...
Exciting dreams come true at Mojave Air & Spaceport! Dec. 13 produced a calm, crisp morning and there was excitement and an edgy sense of accomplishment hanging in the air around the Virgin Galactic team who have worked so diligently to reach this day; seeing SpaceShipTwo "Unity" climb into space. The attempt to soar 264,000-feet, or 50-miles, above the surface of Earth, beyond the boundary of what the U.S. government deems as space, was a milestone for the team and TheSpaceShipCompany at...
At the December Plane Crazy Saturday, Dick Rutan, described his unexpected North Pole adventure with our good friend, Ron Sheardown and his Antonov AN-2 biplane. We also saluted the Voyager crew and volunteers on the 32nd anniversary of the epic flight of Voyager, nonstop, unrefueled around the world. I knew Dick was headed to Alaska to meet up with Sheardown, so I sent some cookies up with Rutan. Later, I was informed that my cookies were too heavy and caused the airplane to break through the...
As December 7 approaches, I am reminded of how some people think we should push the memories of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor out of our minds and just get on with our lives. I totally disagree. We should never forget! Tell the families of the 1,177 men who lost their lives aboard the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941 to forget the past. Tell my friend, Mary Hockensmith, to forget the bullets hitting the ground next to her and her 6-year-old sister, as they ran to their mother in Honolulu...
I was reminded recently of the exciting and terribly hazardous trip that Mike Melvill and Dick Rutan undertook in 1997, flying their homebuilt Long-EZs around the world with the EAA Friendship Tour. It all began when Mike told Dick that he wanted to fly his own homebuilt airplane to his hometown in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mike's wife, Sally, decided that crossing the Atlantic Ocean wasn't something she looked forward to, so she decided that she would stay home for this adventure. Sally was...
Robert J. 'Bob' Gilliland has logged more experimental supersonic test flights above Mach 2 and Mach 3 than any other pilot. He was the SR-71 project test pilot for and personal friends with Kelly Johnson, at the Lockheed Skunk Works. Bob made the first flight of the SR-71 Blackbird on December 22, 1964 from Plant 42 in Palmdale, Calif. The flight lasted one hour, at a speed of over 1,000 mph. Bob was present at all of the SpaceShipOne launches in 2004, and told me, at the Rutan Brothers...
During the Korean War, comparisons between the F-86 and MiG-15 were always made by the pilots on both sides. The MiG was able to fly higher and always had the advantage for the start of battles. The MiG had a better rate of climb, and thrust to weight ratio, also the armament was superior, as they carried one 37-mm and two 23-mm cannons, compared to six 50-caliber machine guns in the F-86. Russian pilots later admitted that the F-86 had better fuselage aerodynamic form, gained speed faster in a...
