It was during Oshkosh last summer when I opened an email that started off like many before but ended with a surprise. The sender was describing an unfinished Rutan VariViggen and was hoping RAFE would be interested in it. The sender of the email though was more interesting then the airplane because I can count on one hand how many woman I’ve met that have built their own Rutan design.
For forty two years Kate Gilbert had been working on a VariViggen and now, nearly 80, she accepted the reality that she most likely wasn’t going to finish it and hoped to find it a good home. VariViggens and their builders are unique, but in a field of unique individuals Kate Gilbert stands way out!
Kate and her Viggen are based at Winter Haven Florida’s, Gilbert Field (KGIF). Aviation is a long part of her family history. KGIF was named after her grandfather and inside the terminal is a display commemorating him.
In a t-hangar on the other side of the field was a lonely looking nearly complete VariViggen Kate had labored over for four decades. Engine installed, ready for taxi testing. When I asked her why she chose to build a VariViggen she bluntly replied “Because back then, men told me a woman couldn’t build an airplane.” She obviously proved them wrong and her entire story is one adventure after another.
Meanwhile, back in Texas, another unfinished VariViggen became part of RAFE’s inventory when John Sotello contact RAFE about the Viggen his grandfather Glenn Webb has started and never finished.
Glenn was an aviation professional who started as a mechanic for Braniff Airlines and later on built a company that created the first software for aviation maintenance tracking. In his spare time, he was building a Viggen. Unfinished but a valuable asset all the same, RAFE was grateful to become it’s caretaker. I drove to Pottsboro, Texas and met Mrs Saundra Web, her son and grandson John. Three generations of caretakers of this unfinished Viggen.
It doesn’t matter that these airplanes never flew. It matters that someone never gave up on thier dream. RAFE is all about Rutan designs, but the underlying theme is wether its a Rutan airplane or whatever your dream is, don’t give up on your dreams.
Kate and Glenn never did. We won’t give up on them either. Don’t give up on yours!
Merry Christmas
Ryszard Zadow
President, RAFE
Way to save history and keep another plane moving toward flight or at least preservation!