The BD 5

Digging through all those clothes that got stored when I "outgrew" them. Thought I'd never get into this again but it was too nice to throw away. I don't think anyone else would want it; unless their name was Troy and they were building (or flying ) a BD5.

It is a bit personalized. 

In case you aren't familiar with the BD5 it was also known as the Silver Bullet when Coors used it in an add campaign.

They used the jet version.

The BD5 saga is a long story of dreamers, skeptics and some very good design ideas. Burt Rutan was Jim Bede's chief aeronautical engineer. The main problem was Jim Bede was a great innovator with a flawed business plan that bordered on a pyramid scheme.

Here's a link to a website with more details should you be curious.  http://www.bd5.com/

I bought the kit when I was a fireman in Thousand Oaks and moonlighted as a BD5 salesman for one of the two BD5 dealers (Ron Beecher) in Southern Calif. He opened a shop in Thousand Oaks where we helped other kit owners assemble their kits on our jigs. It was a good plan. The only problem was Jim Bede couldn't keep up with the demand and the whole thing fell apart.

It was at the shop in Thousand Oaks where I met Francis Gary Powers, the ex U2 pilot shot down over Russia during the cold war. He was interested in buying a BD5 kit. We talked flying and helicopters as he had just landed a new job flying the local NBC affiliates modified Jet Ranger news chopper. He never bought the kit because he died when he ran out of fuel while landing at Van Nuys airport. He was returning from filming a brush fire and din't successfully auto rotate the heavilly modified Jet Ranger after the engine quit.

But that's another story. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Gary_Powers

There are a few flying today as builders finished their kits on their own. They had to engineer and make their own parts to finish their planes, so there are no two exactly the same. I was able to sell my half completed kit to an Aussie who put it all into a car he bought in California an shipped to Australia. I also got my $400 deposit on the manufactured version back.

The jumpsuit is all I have left. I'm keeping it!

Raining today but forcasted perfect tomorrow.

Stay warm.