A ready asked me the purpose of the odd-looking fin projecting downward from the nose of the Defiant on the cover of our August 2011 "Rutan Retrospective" issue. It’s the rudder. Rutan called it ...

Head on, the Boomerang may be hard to fathom, but it’s easy to control — even if one engine quits. Chad Slattery When I first saw the Boomerang, Burt Rutan’s twin-engine, asymmetric, five ...

Rutan quickly learned to use the outward-only rudders to help with banking — swept-wing airplanes lend themselves to steering with the rudder ... and the twin-engine Defiant.

Rutan designed the Defiant with one engine at the rear to push, the other at the nose to pull. He built the four-place, 1,300-mile-range airplane for himself and decided later to sell plans.

OSHKOSH, Wisconsin — The Boomerang, designed by aviation legend Burt Rutan, is one of those creations that draws a crowd due to its innovation, unmatched performance and unusual appearance. When ...

SAN CARLOS — The future of space travel falls largely on the shoulders of one man — and he was at the Hiller Aviation Museum Saturday night. Burt Rutan is perhaps best-known for the launch of ...