I purchased one of the earlier kits, and that was in about 1972 or so. The
engine was never satisfactory, which is one of the reasons the company went
belly up - along with the drive system. I recall that Hirth was one of the
first engines, then Xenoah. Few engines were shipped. We got most of the
parts, except for the engine and drive train.

One of the first "outside" engine was the Honda. Bede put a lot of bucks
into one engine company, and I think it was the Xenoah, but it went belly
up. It was a 2 stroke and Bede never was satisfied with the engine. The VW
engine was never part of the company plans.

Bede used the customers deposits to fund the company. The funds were
represented at one time to be in escrow, but they never were.

Burt Rutan was involved early on as a design engineer.

There were two different wings available in the kit. The long-winged B
version, and the short-winged A version. The difference was just as you
would expect between long wings and short wings.

The V tail was eliminated before any of the kits were shipped.

I started flying in 1969, and seems like all the development came after I
got my license, so I think 1971 is probably the start date. The shipping
date kept getting pushed back, but it was probably 1972 or so. During the
delays, the J version came out. That might have been about 1973.

It is sometimes difficult to squeeze facts out of the old timers, and I am
recalling things as I go. Some engines were shipped. I recall you had a
choice of taking the existing engine (maybe Hirth), or wait until the better
engine came out.

The BD-5 was to the airplane industry as the Tucker was to automobiles. I
think Bede fully intended to meet his promises, but was never satisfied with
the engine/drivetrain and simply spent all of the money trying to make an
acceptable product.

I think I recall my serial number was 2144. Boy, that took a lot of work to
pull that out.

Colin