I wish I could make that in Kerbal Space Program. This thread had me searching online for all the weird aircraft ideas people came up with in the 60's and 70's. My favorite new airframe is The Breadbox as it is a complete "WTF why not?" solution to a problem. And I can imagine sweeping the floors at Scaled was amazing. Beats running the beer and soda cooler for a crappy grocery store for sure. Paul Allen paid to build SpaceShipOne which is where this claim comes from. The point being made is that this is the first time a plane broke the sound barrier after being build not for a government contract. Yea, they got fed money, all these companies do/did. I guess if we want to be technically correct, then even Thrust SSC was not privately funded as they used RAF F4 engines that they "borrowed" for the car. Something tells me that you know all of this and we could go on for a bit about airframes for hours.
Dude. Do I have the site for you. I understand the point being made and it's a genuine one. I'm a big booster of SpaceX et.al and an avid spectator of it all. A lot of the time I just throw a partial non sequitor out there to prompt better discussion. Like the Rockwell breadbox. I should really start playing Kerbal Space Program. Problem being, I'm a casual console guy with a 92" projection screen and I haven't hooked a PC up to it.