Hughes H-1 Racer

Last updated
H-1 Racer
Hughes H-1 Racer photo D Ramey Logan.jpg
The H-1 Racer at the National Air and Space Museum (below)
Role Racing aircraft
Long-range aircraft [for record attempt]
Manufacturer Hughes Aircraft
DesignerRichard Palmer [1] [2]
First flightAugust 17, 1935 [3]
Primary user Howard Hughes
Produced1935
Number built1
Career
RegistrationNR258Y
Preserved at National Air and Space Museum

The Hughes H-1 Racer is a racing aircraft built by Hughes Aircraft in 1935. Utilising different wings, it set both a world airspeed record and a transcontinental speed record across the United States. The H-1 Racer was the last aircraft built by a private individual to set the world speed record; most aircraft to hold the record since have been military designs.

Contents

Development

During his work on his 1930 movie Hell's Angels , Howard Hughes employed Glenn Odekirk to maintain the fleet of over 100 aircraft used in the production. The two men shared a common interest in aviation and hatched a plan to build a record-beating aircraft. The aircraft was given many names, but is commonly known as the H-1. It was the first aircraft type produced by the Hughes Aircraft company.

Design studies began in 1934 with an exacting scale model (over two feet in length) that was tested in the California Institute of Technology wind tunnel, revealing a speed potential of 365 miles per hour (587 km/h). [4]

Design

Streamlining was a paramount design criterion, resulting in what has been retroactively described as "one of the cleanest and most elegant aircraft designs ever built." [5] Many groundbreaking technologies were developed during the construction process, including individually machined flush rivets that left the aluminium skin of the aircraft extremely smooth. The H-1 had retractable main landing gear - then still a novel feature - and a fully retractable hydraulically actuated tail skid to reduce the drag of a conventional wheel and maximize speed. [5] It was fitted with a Pratt & Whitney R-1535 twin-row 14-cylinder radial engine of 1,535 cubic inches (25.15 L), originally rated at 700 horsepower (522 kW) but tuned to produce over 1,000 horsepower (750 kW). [5]

In order to contest both maximum speed and long-distance racing records the original short-span high-speed wings were replaced with a set of longer ones for long-distance flights.

Operational history

The H-1's two-bladed constant speed propeller was still the performance standard HughesH1front.JPG
The H-1's two-bladed constant speed propeller was still the performance standard

Before the H-1 took to the air, the world absolute speed record was 440.7 mph (709.2 km/h), held by a Macchi M.C.72 seaplane and set in October 1934. The landplane record was 314.32 mph (505.85 km/h), averaged by Raymond Delmotte in a Caudron C.460.

Hughes piloted H-1's maiden flight on August 17, 1935, at Grand Central Airport in Glendale, California. A month later, on 13 September at Martin Field near Santa Ana, California, Hughes broke the landplane speed record clocking 352.39 mph (567.12 km/h) averaged over four timed passes. The aircraft was loaded with a minimal amount of fuel to keep the weight down, and Hughes was not supposed to make the 3rd and 4th passes. Exhausting the fuel supply, he crash-landed in a beet field south of Santa Ana without serious damage to either himself or the aircraft. [2] : 133–134  When his compatriots arrived at the crash site Hughes said "We can fix her; she'll go faster."

Hughes later made minor changes to the H-1 Racer to make it more suitable for a transcontinental speed record attempt. The most significant change was the fitting of a new set of wings of increased span, giving it a lower wing loading. On January 19, 1937, a year and a half after setting the landplane speed record in the H-1, Hughes broke his own transcontinental speed record by flying non-stop from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds, smashing the previous time of 9 hours, 27 minutes by two hours. His average speed over the flight was 322 miles per hour (518 km/h). [6]

Considering that contemporary service aircraft were still biplanes, Hughes fully expected the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) to embrace his aircraft's new design and make the H-1 the basis for a new generation of U.S. fighter aircraft. His efforts to persuade the Air Corps were unsuccessful. In postwar testimony before the Senate, Hughes indicated that resistance to the innovative design was the basis for the USAAC rejection of the H-1: "I tried to sell that airplane to the Army but they turned it down because at that time the Army did not think a cantilever monoplane was proper for a pursuit ship..." [7]

Aviation writer William Wraga asserts that the H-1 Racer inspired later radial engine fighters such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero and the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, without offering any arguments for that being the case other than "Hughes showed them how it should be done." [8] After the war, Hughes claimed that "it was quite apparent to everyone that the Japanese Zero fighter had been copied from the Hughes H-1 Racer." He claimed the wing shape, tail design, and general similarity of the Zero were derived from his racer. [9] [N 1] Jiro Horikoshi, designer of the Mitsubishi Zero strongly denied the allegation of the Hughes H-1 influencing the design of the Japanese fighter aircraft. [10]

The Hughes H-1 Racer is featured in the 1940 RKO Radio Pictures movie Men Against the Sky , playing the role of a prototype "McLean Aircraft" high-speed pursuit craft. [11]

Disposition

The original H-1 Racer on display at the National Air & Space Museum, November 2014 Hughes H-1 Racer Air and Space Museum photo D Ramey Logan.jpg
The original H-1 Racer on display at the National Air & Space Museum, November 2014

The original H-1 Racer was donated to the Smithsonian in 1975 and is on display at the National Air and Space Museum. [12]

Replicas

Jim Wright's H-1 replica, later destroyed in a crash Hughes H-1 Racer Replica Oshkosh 2003.jpg
Jim Wright's H-1 replica, later destroyed in a crash

A non-flying replica was displayed in the National Air Race Museum from 1993 to 1994, [13] after which it was placed in storage.

Jim Wright of Cottage Grove, Oregon, built a full-scale replica of the H-1 that he first flew in 2002. His replica was so close to the original that the FAA granted it serial number 2 of the model. His achievement in recreating the aircraft was heralded in many aviation magazines. [14]

On August 4, 2003, Wright unveiled his H-1 replica at the 2003 AirVenture at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. On his way home to Oregon, he refueled the aircraft in Gillette, Wyoming. Wright met briefly with local reporters and said that the aircraft had been having propeller "gear problems." An hour after taking off, the aircraft crashed just north of the Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, killing Wright. The replica, slated to be used in the film The Aviator , was completely destroyed. [15] [N 2] The official accident report detailed the failure of a counterweight on the constant speed propeller. [17] On December 17, 2003, Cottage Grove State Airport was dedicated as Jim Wright Field.

A static replica H-1 was displayed on a pole alongside Hughes’ "Spruce Goose" at Long Beach when the latter aircraft was displayed in a dome adjacent to the Queen Mary until 1992. Other non-flying replicas are displayed at the Thomas T. Beam Engineering Complex at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas [18] (donated by the Howard Hughes Corporation in 1988) and the Santa Maria Museum of Flight. [19] As of 2016, [20] another H-1 replica is being built at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. [21]

Specifications (H-1 Racer, original wings)

Data from "Howard Hughes' H-1: The Search for the Fastest Plane in the World". [22]

General characteristics

Performance

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lockheed Model 9 Orion</span> Type of aircraft

The Lockheed Model 9 Orion is a single-engined passenger aircraft built in 1931 for commercial airlines. It was faster than any American military aircraft of that time. Designed by Richard A. von Hake, it was the last wood aircraft produced by the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major</span> R-28 piston aircraft engine family

The Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major is an American 28-cylinder four-row radial piston aircraft engine designed and built during World War II. First run in 1944, at 4,362.5 cu in (71.5 L), it is the largest-displacement aviation piston engine to be mass-produced in the United States, and at 4,300 hp (3,200 kW) the most powerful. It was the last of the Pratt & Whitney Wasp family, and the culmination of its maker's piston engine technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seversky P-35</span> 1935 fighter aircraft series by Seversky

The Seversky P-35 is an American fighter aircraft built by the Seversky Aircraft Company in the late 1930s. A contemporary of the Hawker Hurricane and Messerschmitt Bf 109, the P-35 was the first single-seat fighter in United States Army Air Corps to feature all-metal construction, retractable landing gear, and an enclosed cockpit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior</span>

The Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior is a series of nine-cylinder, air-cooled, radial aircraft engines built by the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company from the 1930s to the 1950s. These engines have a displacement of 985 in3 (16 L); initial versions produced 300 hp (220 kW), while the most widely used versions produce 450 hp (340 kW).

<i>The Aviator</i> (2004 film) American biographical drama film

The Aviator is a 2004 American epic biographical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by John Logan. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes, Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn, and Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner. The supporting cast features Ian Holm, John C. Reilly, Alec Baldwin, Jude Law, Gwen Stefani, Kelli Garner, Matt Ross, Willem Dafoe, Alan Alda, and Edward Herrmann.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Granville Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster</span> American 1930s monoplane racer

The Gee Bee Model R Super Sportster was a special-purpose racing aircraft made by Granville Brothers Aircraft of Springfield, Massachusetts at the now-abandoned Springfield Airport. Gee Bee stands for Granville Brothers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wedell-Williams Model 44</span> Type of aircraft

The Wedell-Williams Model 44 is a racing aircraft, four examples of which were built in the United States in the early 1930s by the Wedell-Williams Air Service Corporation. It began as a rebuilding of the partnership's successful We-Will 1929 racer, but soon turned into a completely new racing monoplane aircraft, powered by a large radial engine. Model 44s became the dominant racers of the 1930s, setting innumerable records including setting a new world speed record in 1933.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson Reliant</span> High-wing monoplane produced 1933-43

The Stinson Reliant is a popular single-engine four- to five-seat high-wing monoplane manufactured by the Stinson Aircraft Division of the Aviation Manufacturing Corporation of Wayne, Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard DGA-8</span> Type of aircraft

The Howard DGA-8, DGA-9, DGA-11, and DGA-12 were a family of four-place, single-engine, high-wing light monoplanes built by the Howard Aircraft Corporation, Chicago, Illinois from 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grumman Ag Cat</span> Single-engine agricultural biplane

The Grumman G-164 Ag Cat is a single-engined biplane agricultural aircraft, developed by Grumman in the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard DGA-6</span> Type of aircraft

The Howard DGA-6 was a pioneer racing plane, nicknamed "Mister Mulligan". It was the only airplane ever designed for the specific purpose of winning the Bendix Trophy. The plane was designed and developed by Ben Howard and Gordon Israel, who later became an engineer for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. Mister Mulligan was designed to fly the entire length of the race nonstop and at high altitude. Neither had ever been done before. Mister Mulligan won the trophy, and thus changed the way in which long distance airplanes were designed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boeing Model 40</span> Type of aircraft

The Boeing Model 40 was a United States mail plane of the 1920s. It was a single-engined biplane that was widely used for airmail services in the United States in the 1920s and 1930s, especially by airlines that later became part of United Airlines. It became the first aircraft built by the Boeing company to carry passengers.

The Hughes D-2 was an American fighter and bomber project begun by Howard Hughes as a private venture. It never proceeded past the flight testing phase but was the predecessor of the Hughes XF-11. The sole D-2 was completed in 1942–1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spartan Executive</span> American cabin monoplane aircraft produced 1936 - 1940

The Spartan 7W Executive is a cabin monoplane aircraft that was produced by the Spartan Aircraft Company during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The 7W features an all-metal fuselage, as well as a retractable undercarriage. The 7W Executive was popular with affluent buyers worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travel Air 2000</span> American civilian biplane

The Travel Air 2000/3000/4000 were open-cockpit biplane aircraft produced in the United States in the late 1920s by the Travel Air Manufacturing Company. During the period from 1924–1929, Travel Air produced more aircraft than any other American manufacturer, including over 1,000 biplanes. While an exact number is almost impossible to ascertain due to the number of conversions and rebuilds, some estimates for Travel Air as a whole range from 1,200 to nearly 2,000 aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lockheed XC-35</span> Type of aircraft

The Lockheed XC-35 is a twin-engine, experimental pressurized airplane. It was the second American aircraft to feature cabin pressurization. It was initially described as a "supercharged cabins" by the Army. The XC-35 was a development of the Lockheed Model 10 Electra that was designed to meet a 1935 request by the United States Army Air Corps for an aircraft with a pressurized cabin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oakland Aviation Museum</span> Museum in Oakland, California, US

Oakland Aviation Museum, formerly called Western Aerospace Museum, was founded in 1981 as a non-profit organization operating an aviation museum located at North Field of Oakland International Airport in Oakland, California. It has over 30 vintage and modern airplanes, both civilian and military, and other displays that highlight noted aviators and innovators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamilton H-47</span> Type of aircraft

The Hamilton H-45 and H-47 were six-passenger-seat, all-metal, high-wing monoplanes powered by single Pratt & Whitney radial engines. They were built for passenger and mail-carrying work in the US in the late 1920s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Granville Gee Bee Model Z Super Sportster</span> Racing aircraft, United States, 1931

The Granville Gee Bee Model Z was an American racing aircraft of the early 1930s, the first of the Super Sportster aircraft built by Granville Brothers Aircraft of Springfield, Massachusetts, with the sole intent of winning the Thompson Trophy, which it did in 1931. However, it soon suffered a fatal crash during a world speed record attempt, starting the reputation of the Gee Bee aircraft as killers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Granville Gee Bee R-6</span> Type of aircraft

The Granville Gee Bee R-6 International Super Sportster, named "Q.E.D.", and later named "Conquistador del Cielo", was the last in a series of racing and touring monoplane aircraft from the Granville Brothers. The R-6H was dogged with bad luck throughout its career and never finished any race it entered.

References

Notes
  1. ↑ What Hughes actually asserted was that it seemed to him plain from examination of the two that the Zero was substantially a copy. An aside from Bill Utley, the Hughes company publicist, noted that one Al Ludwick had given details of pre-war inspection of the H-1 by Japanese generals at a New Jersey hangar. No actual evidence of copying beyond similarity of design is offered otherwise.
  2. ↑ Witnesses on the ground testify that Mr. Wright turned the aircraft away from park visitors and into a small bluff in an apparent attempt to spare those on the ground. [16]
Citations
  1. ↑ Cowin 1999, p. 60.
  2. 1 2 Dietrich, Noah; Thomas, Bob (1972). Howard, The Amazing Mr. Hughes. Greenwich: Fawcett Publications, Inc. p. 131.
  3. ↑ Dwiggins 1976, p. 64.
  4. ↑ Marrett 2004, p. 19.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Marrett 2004, p. 20.
  6. ↑ Onkst, David H. (2003). "Howard R. Hughes, Jr.–The Record Setter". U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission. Retrieved 15 May 2006.
  7. ↑ Dwiggens 1976, p. 78.
  8. ↑ Wraga, William. "Curtis Wright and the Flying Tigers". Curtiss-Wright . Archived from the original on 16 May 2006. Retrieved 16 May 2006.
  9. ↑ "Howard Hughes Aviator". Welcome Home Howard!, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, 2008. Retrieved: March 15, 2009.
  10. ↑ Drake 1976, pp. 12–13.
  11. ↑ "Men Against the Sky (1940)." IMDb , 2009. Retrieved: March 15, 2009.
  12. ↑ "The H-1 Racer." Archived 2019-07-21 at the Wayback Machine National Air and Space Museum. Retrieved: 13 October 2010.
  13. ↑ "Fancy These Flights?". Reno Gazette-Journal. August 26, 1993. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  14. ↑ "Reproduction Howard Hughes H-1 Racer Project". Wright Machine Tool Co. Inc. 5 May 2004. Archived from the original on 3 July 2006. Retrieved 4 July 2006.
  15. ↑ Baker, Mark (6 August 2003). "Cottage Grove pilot dies in replica of historic plane". The Register-Guard . Cottage Grove, Oregon. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  16. ↑ Homans, Charlie (5 August 2003). "Fatal airplane crash in Yellowstone". Gillette News-Record . Retrieved 18 January 2007.
  17. ↑ Accident Report (Report). NTSB. DEN03FA138. Retrieved 23 May 2007.
  18. ↑ The Back Story: The H-1 Racer Airplane Brian Sodoma, 13/01/2011, retrieved 26 October 2017
  19. ↑ HUGHES H-1B RACER (replica) NR258Y Malcolm Nason, 13/03/2017, retrieved 26 October 2017
  20. ↑ San Diego Air and Space Museum Visit blog post by Aero Telemetry, 12/07/2016, retrieved 26 October 2017
  21. ↑ "Hughes Special 1B Racer". San Diego Air & Space Museum . Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  22. ↑ Dwiggins 1976, pp. 61–62.
  23. ↑ "Pratt & Whitney R-1535 Twin Wasp Junior". Ken's Aviation. 11 February 2004. Archived from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2007.
Bibliography
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.