https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-1_Racer
The Hughes H-1 is a racing aircraft built by Hughes Aircraft in 1935. It set 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 honor since have been military
designs.
During his work on his 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 model produced by the Hughes
Aircraft company.
Design studies began in 1934 with an exacting, large 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).
Streamlining was a paramount design criterion resulting in "one of the cleanest
and most elegant aircraft designs ever built." Many groundbreaking technologies
were developed during the construction process, including individually machined
flush rivets that left the aluminium skin of the aircraft completely smooth. The
H-1 also had retractable landing gear to further increase the speed of the
aircraft, including a fully retractable hydraulically actuated tail skid. It was
fitted with a Pratt & Whitney R-1535 twin-row 14-cylinder radial engine of 1,535
cubic inches (25.15 l), which although originally rated at 700 horsepower (522
kW), was tuned to put out over 1,000 horsepower (750 kW).
Due to two different roles being envisioned for the racing aircraft, a set of
short-span wings for air racing and speed records and a set of "long" wings for
cross-country racing were prepared.
Role
Racing aircraft
Long-range aircraft [for record attempt]
Manufacturer
Hughes Aircraft
Designer
Richard Palmer
First flight
September 13, 1935
Primary user
Howard Hughes
Produced
1935
Number built
1
Career
Registration
NR258Y
Preserved at
National Air and Space Museum
The H-1 first flew in 1935 and promptly broke the world landplane speed record
with Hughes at the controls, clocking 352.39 mph (567.12 km/h) averaged over
four timed passes. Hughes apparently ran the aircraft out of fuel and managed to
crash-land without serious damage to either himself or the H-1.:133-134 As soon
as Hughes exited the H-1 when he crashed it in a beet field south of Santa Ana,
California, his only comment was: "We can fix her; she'll go faster." At the
time, the world seaplane speed record was 440.7 mph (709.2 km/h), set by a
Macchi M.C.72 in October 1934.
Hughes later implemented 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, longer set of wings that gave the aircraft a lower wing
loading. On January 19, 1937, a year and a half after his previous landplane
speed record in the H-1, Hughes set a new transcontinental speed record by
flying non-stop from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25
seconds. He smashed his own previous record of 9 hours, 27 minutes by two hours.
His average speed over the flight was 322 miles per hour (518 km/h).
Considering the contemporary service aircraft were 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 "sell" the design 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..."
Aviation historians have posited that the H-1 Racer may have inspired later
radial engine fighters such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt and the Focke-Wulf
Fw 190. After the war, Hughes further claimed that "it was quite apparent to
everyone that the Japanese Zero fighter had been copied from the Hughes H-1
Racer." He noted both the wing shape, the tail design and the general similarity
of the Zero and his racer. Jiro Horikoshi, designer of the Mitsubishi Zero
strongly denied the allegation of the Hughes H-1 influencing the design of the
Japanese fighter aircraft.
The Hughes H-1 Racer is featured in the 1940 RKO Radio Pictures movie Men
Against the Sky.
Specifications (H-1 Racer, original wings)
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 27 ft 0 in (8.23 m)
Wingspan: 31 ft 9 in (9.67 m)
Height: 8 ft (2.4 m)
Empty weight: 3,565 lb (1,620 kg)
Loaded weight: 5,492 lb (2,496 kg)
Performance
Maximum speed: 352 mph (566 km/h)
Power/mass: 0.13 hp/lb (210 W/kg)
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