Beech Starship? SpaceShipOne?

[DunxC]

Hi,

I watched the fantastic coverage of SpaceShipOne's historic flight yesterday
and was truly impressed. I've long thought of Burt Rutan as the last of the
pioneers, and this one cements it. However, did I really see a Beech Starship
flying past also? I though Beech (or parent company) had withdrawn these.
Anyone know what it was up to?

TIA Duncan

[David E. Powell]

"DunxC" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
>
> I watched the fantastic coverage of SpaceShipOne's historic flight
yesterday
> and was truly impressed. I've long thought of Burt Rutan as the last of
the
> pioneers, and this one cements it.

He is definitely an original. One of the greatest, no doubt.

However, did I really see a Beech Starship
> flying past also?

Yes. Unique, classy plane.

I though Beech (or parent company) had withdrawn these.

Apparently it was owned by Scaled Composites, one of their company planes.

> Anyone know what it was up to?

It was serving as a chase plane/camera plane for the mission and the filming
for a Discovery Channel special on the mission. There were a couple other
chase/camera planes as well, but the Starship took off and formed up with
the White Knight/Spaceship One combo plane early on.

> TIA Duncan

NP brah.

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"DunxC" > wrote in message
...
>
> I watched the fantastic coverage of SpaceShipOne's historic flight
yesterday
> and was truly impressed. I've long thought of Burt Rutan as the last of
the
> pioneers, and this one cements it. However, did I really see a Beech
Starship
> flying past also? I though Beech (or parent company) had withdrawn these.
> Anyone know what it was up to?
>

No, you didn't really see a Beech Starship flying past. You saw the
proof-of-concept forerunner to the Beech Starship that was built by Rutan's
Scaled Composites flying past.

[John A. Weeks III]

In article et>,
Steven P. McNicoll > wrote:

> No, you didn't really see a Beech Starship flying past. You saw the
> proof-of-concept forerunner to the Beech Starship that was built by Rutan's
> Scaled Composites flying past.

I once saw a Beech Starship doing an airshow demo. After that, I
have thought of it as the coolest corporate airplane ever built.
Too bad it wasn't successful in the marketplace.

-john-

--
================================================== ==================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ==================

[Peter Stickney]

In article et>,
"Steven P. McNicoll" > writes:
>
> "DunxC" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> I watched the fantastic coverage of SpaceShipOne's historic flight
> yesterday
>> and was truly impressed. I've long thought of Burt Rutan as the last of
> the
>> pioneers, and this one cements it. However, did I really see a Beech
> Starship
>> flying past also? I though Beech (or parent company) had withdrawn these.
>> Anyone know what it was up to?
>>
>
> No, you didn't really see a Beech Starship flying past. You saw the
> proof-of-concept forerunner to the Beech Starship that was built by Rutan's
> Scaled Composites flying past.

No, it's a real Starship. Off the top of my head, (and with a little
checking, there are 7 still in active use out of the 53 produced. $
are in various museums. The remainder are still owned by Raytheon, and
are in storage in Tuscon, eventual fate unknown. The Starship used
fas the High Chase for the SpaceShipOne flights is Ship NC-51/N5a4RS,
owned by Bob Scherer out of Newport Beach, CA. Bob has a website
showing, among other things, the status of all teh Starships built.
It's at:
http://www.bobscherer.com/

The starship's a really neat plane. Unfortunately, it didn't offer
enough of an advance in performance over the King Air to make up for
the difference in price.

--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster

[David Lednicer]

> No, you didn't really see a Beech Starship flying past. You saw the
> proof-of-concept forerunner to the Beech Starship that was built by Rutan's
> Scaled Composites flying past.

The Starship POC was intentionally destroyed by having a bulldozer run
over it many years ago.

[Steven P. McNicoll]

"David Lednicer" > wrote in message
...
>
> The Starship POC was intentionally destroyed by having a bulldozer run
> over it many years ago.
>

Now that you mention it, that does sound familiar. The aircraft as seen on
CNN looked smaller than a standard Beech 2000.

[Regnirps]

It is a Starship owned by one of the Scaled Composite people. I could tell you
more, but the guy who knows the most is shut down. He has exceeded the download
limit on his website (www.bobscherer.com -- don't make it worse :-)

The prototype was wrecked by a bulldozer (or something) when Raytheon pulled
the plug. There were only about 54 built and they didn't want to be in the
spares business for a fleet that small and didn't want to hang on till the
economy turned up a little later. I'm sure they are getting a small
satisfaction out of using it as a chase plane and getting all this media
attention.

-- Charlie Springer

-- Charlie Springer