Rutan VariViggen

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Rutan VariViggen

Type	Light Prop
Manufacturer	Rutan Aircraft Factory
Designed by	Burt Rutan
Maiden flight	April, 1972
Primary user	Private Owners
Produced	600+
Variants	VariEze

The Rutan VariViggen is an airplane designed by Burt Rutan. The aircraft is a two-seat (tandem arrangement), wood and fiberglass canard utilizing a 150 hp Lycoming O-320 piston engine in pusher configuration. He named it after the Swedish fighter plane, the Saab Viggen, which had partially inspired his design. The prototype was designated Model 27, and the production version was Model 32.

Rutan became interested in aircraft which resisted stalls and spins, and the VariViggen was his first design. He began working with the design as a student at Cal Poly in the early 1960s, and started building the prototype in his garage in 1968. After four years of work, the aircraft made its first flight in April, 1972. The Model 32, also known as the VariViggen SP, utilized a slightly longer fuselage and winglets. Rutan also began work on an all-aluminum variant, the MiniViggen, but later abandoned the project and focused his efforts on the VariEze.

The Rutan Aircraft Factory sold over 600 plan sets for the VariViggen to homebuilders, and eventually about 20 of the aircraft were built, with less than five currently still flying, one of which crashed in New Brunswick, Canada in September 2006. The prototype aircraft, N27VV, was donated to the EAA AirVenture Museum in 1988.