You're certainly correct. I was getting L/D and glide ratio mixed up. Further I was thinking about the state of the art in small aircraft - the Cessna 172 or Cirrus SR22. Neither particularly good in this respect.
L/D and glide ratio are equal numbers. It's a matter of basic geometry. While different concepts, they'll always be the same value for a given aircraft.
Rutan easily beat them all out in the 1970's.