By Barbara A. Schmitz
Warrior. Adventurer. Patriot.
Those words on the memorial stone for Dick Rutan, who died in May, sum up Dick’s life. But his brother Burt and other friends told tales that brought laughter to the crowd gathered Tuesday at the Brown Arch to remember and pay respect to the man famous for circumnavigating the world without stopping or refueling in the Voyager, an experimental airplane designed by Burt, in 1986.
Dick wasn’t just known for flying the Voyager, however. He was a military aviator shot down in Vietnam and a record-breaking test pilot who was awarded the Silver Star, five Distinguished Flying Crosses, 16 Air Medals, and a Purple Heart. He retired from the Air Force in 1978 with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was also a supporter of EAA for more than 50 years.
Burt said that Dick was a test pilot for his Mojave aerospace company, and joked he wasn’t a very good employee. “I wanted VariEze to fly safely, but safe wasn’t in Dick’s repertoire,” he said. Instead, Dick liked to make changes so he could fly aerobatics or faster.
As children, the two brothers fought a lot, Burt said, and weren’t that close. But that’s because of their age difference. They didn’t go to school together, and they didn’t have the same friends.
But two years ago, Burt convinced Dick to leave Mojave and move closer to him in northern Idaho. “For the first time in our lives, we had the same friends. We’d eat together, go to movies together. It was the best time of my life.”
Burt said Dick died of an incurable lung disease, and one of the last things the two brothers did in Dick’s last hours was salute each other.
“It wasn’t long ago that Dick was saying he thought he could make it to Oshkosh again,” Burt said. But Dick was a fighter to the end. “He fought it until he knew it was going to kill him. He tried to keep healthy, but we watched him grow weaker and weaker every day” as his body slowly shut down.
Toward the end, Dick called the important people in his life to say goodbye. He also gave his family and friends instructions about his memorial. “It’s got to be in a hangar and surrounded by big airplanes,” Dick told them. “And nobody can be more dressed up than a T-shirt.”
In fact, those who did come wearing nicer clothes were given a T-shirt with a missing man formation to change into.
When the pain started to be overwhelming, Dick decided it was time to stop fighting. He removed his oxygen and died shortly after, with his wife, Kris, by his side.
He will be buried with full honors at Arlington National Cemetery.