Here is an article which includes some text about Burt Rutan's Raptor UAV.
www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1993/1993%20-%202623.html
Just accidentally when searching about Raptor UAV (this is off-topic to this posting, but anyhow contains interesting information including patent numbers), I found this: Burt Rutan's CV. Needless to say "Burt Rutan is my hero", but here is the CV of Mr. Rutan:
http://www.roycecarlton.com/speaker/Burt-Rutan-Curriculum-Vitae/
3 comments:
Rutan brothers, yes, everybody knows them. I have been studing the Long Ez design several times.
After the commercial space jump everybody knows Rutan and Scaled Composites.
I saw the plane (Long Ez) at close range in Lelystadt. It is a very nice plane. Build using fiber glass and without any moulds. Very staight forward technics.
BTW: Rutan did his studies in Germany where he learned all about the fiber glass.
Here is some text from link:
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/List-of-altitude-records-reached-by-different-aircraft-types
"Piston-driven propellor aeroplane
The highest altitude obtained in a piston-driven propeller aeroplane (without a payload) was 17,083 meters (56,047 ft) on October 22, 1938 by Mario Pezzi at Montecelio, Italy in a Caproni 161 driven by a Piaggio XI R.C. engine.
The highest altitude for horizontal flight without a payload is 14,301 meters (46,919 ft) set on November 15, 2003 by Bruce Bohannan flying his Bohannon B-1 driven by a Mattituck/Lycoming IO-540 (350 hp) engine over Angleton, Texas.
Jet plane
The highest altitude obtained by a manned air-breathing jet propelled aircraft following an uncontrolled ballistic trajectory is 37,650m (123,523 feet) set by Alexandr Fedotov, in a Mikoyan Gurevitch E-266M (MiG-25M), on 31st August 1977. MiG 25 Foxbat The MiG-25 (NATO reporting name Foxbat) is a high-speed interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft produced by the Soviet Unions Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau. ...
The highest altitude obtained by a manned air-breathing jet propelled aircraft in controlled horizontal flight is 25,929m (85,069 feet) set by Robert C. Helt and Larry A. Elliott, in a Lockheed SR-71, on 27th/28th July 1976. The Lockheed SR-71, unofficially known as the Blackbird, is a long-range, advanced, strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed from the Lockheed A-12 and YF-12A aircraft by Lockheeds Skunk works, which was also responsible for the U-2 and many other advanced aircraft."
I think I am able to beat Bohannon B1 and Caproni 161. Actually I wonder how a plane like Caproni 161 was able to get that high. It is not really shining on optimized high altitude design.
Bohannon B1 has excellent power to weight ratio, but it all ends there. The wings are low aspect ratio and not optimized to high altitude flight. Might be feasible to beat that with a much lesser power on a specifically tailored high altitude design which optimizes cruise to high Cl.
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