John went from success to success for decades. Kind of unjust that only people in experimental aviation know his name, whereas at one time everyone had heard the name Bede.
Bede marketed his name and products. He kept the image and dream in front of a wide audience, with Popular Mechanics (popular, not functional). And later James Bond. Bede spent literally millions of dollars marketing. Money came in, it went into print. And lined his pocket. And that is all.
@@TheJustinJ Not sure about that, we was definitely good at marketing, but most of the publicity was free, he didn’t pay popular mechanics, or any of the aviation magazines for their articles. In an interview with Rutan, who had worked for him, he said that Bede was just not very good at managing the business. Great at designing (up to a point), great at selling, but not too good on the follow through. So it’s not fair to say he lined his pockets, his businesses failed actually many times. Nonetheless his early designs were very good, and they are still in production. But he was earnest in what he was doing, he wasn’t out to trick people. He was kind of a Daedalus figure with the BD5 and 10, he tried to reach farther than he was really capable of.
John went from success to success for decades.
Kind of unjust that only people in experimental aviation know his name, whereas at one time everyone had heard the name Bede.
Bede marketed his name and products. He kept the image and dream in front of a wide audience, with Popular Mechanics (popular, not functional). And later James Bond.
Bede spent literally millions of dollars marketing. Money came in, it went into print. And lined his pocket. And that is all.
@@TheJustinJ Not sure about that, we was definitely good at marketing, but most of the publicity was free, he didn’t pay popular mechanics, or any of the aviation magazines for their articles.
In an interview with Rutan, who had worked for him, he said that Bede was just not very good at managing the business. Great at designing (up to a point), great at selling, but not too good on the follow through.
So it’s not fair to say he lined his pockets, his businesses failed actually many times. Nonetheless his early designs were very good, and they are still in production. But he was earnest in what he was doing, he wasn’t out to trick people. He was kind of a Daedalus figure with the BD5 and 10, he tried to reach farther than he was really capable of.