Hughes H-1
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What was the Hughes H-1 monoplane?
The Hughes H-1, designed by Howard Hughes and Richard Palmer, was built by Glenn Odekirk to be the world's fastest landplane. In 1935, it achieved a world speed record of 567.113 km/hr (352.388 mph) above Santa Ana, California. Later, it broke the transcontinental speed record, flying from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, in 7 hours 28 minutes 25 seconds.
Hughes equipped the plane with a Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp Junior radial engine, and the drag was minimized by covering the engine with a bell-shaped cowling that streamlined the air around it. The racer's landing gear folded into slots in the wings. The fuselage was lightweight duralumin, and its wings plywood. The Hughes H-1 was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1975.
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Who built the Hughes H-1 and when was it made?
The Hughes H-1, a record-breaking racing plane, was designed by Howard Hughes and engineer Richard Palmer and built by mechanic Glenn Odekirk. Hughes' company, Hughes Aircraft, constructed the aircraft, with a focus on minimizing drag and weight. The fuselage was made of lightweight duralumin, and the wings were plywood.
The H-1 earned the title of the world's fastest landplane in 1935, achieving a speed of 567.113 km/hr (352.388 mph) above Santa Ana, California. In 1937, it broke the transcontinental speed record, flying from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, in 7 hours 28 minutes 25 seconds.
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What made the design of the Hughes H-1 monoplane unique for its time?
The Hughes H-1 monoplane, designed by Howard Hughes and Richard Palmer, achieved a world speed record of 567.113 km/hr (352.388 mph) in 1935. Several features made it unique for its time. Cutting down on drag was very important to Hughes. The landing gear folded into slots in the wings, which were sanded. Every screw was tightened so that its slot aligned with the airstream.
Weight minimization was equally important. The fuselage was lightweight duralumin, and the wings were plywood. The H-1 also had flush-riveted, butt-joined aluminum fuselage, an enclosed cockpit, and power-driven retractable landing gear folding flush into the wing. The H-1 demonstrated that radial-engine aircraft could rival the speed of planes with lower-drag inline engines.
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What kinds of speed records did the Hughes H-1 set?
The Hughes H-1, designed by Howard Hughes and Richard Palmer, was built to be the fastest landplane. On September 13, 1935, it achieved a world speed record of 567.113 km/hr (352.388 mph) over Santa Ana, California. Later, the H-1 broke the transcontinental speed record by flying from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, in 7 hours 28 minutes 25 seconds. The H-1 was a low-wing monoplane built with unbraced wings with a stressed-skin metal covering that bore stress loads and thereby permitted a reduction in weight of the internal structure.
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How did the Hughes H-1 influence later airplane designs?
The Hughes H-1 was a milestone in aviation, demonstrating that aircraft with radial engines could achieve speeds competitive with those using lower-drag inline engines. Its design influenced later aircraft through several features:
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Stressed-skin construction The H-1 used a "stressed-skin" metal covering, which bore stress loads and allowed for a lighter internal structure.
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Aerodynamic advancements Flush-riveted, butt-joined aluminum fuselage, along with a streamlined NACA cowling, helped reduce drag. The H-1 also featured an enclosed cockpit and power-driven retractable landing gear.
These features anticipated the configuration, appearance, and performance of the fighters of World War II.
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What was Howard Hughes’ role in flying and promoting the Hughes H-1 monoplane?
Howard Hughes, an eccentric movie producer, became interested in flight while directing his war film Hell's Angels (1930). After winning his first aviation trophy in 1934, he had his company, Hughes Aircraft, build the Hughes H-1. Hughes equipped his plane with a Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp Junior radial engine. Cutting down on drag was very important to Hughes, who also minimized weight.
The H-1 earned the title of the fastest landplane in the world in 1935, and it later broke the transcontinental speed record. After its transcontinental flight, the H-1 was kept in the Hughes factory. In 1975 Hughes donated the racer to the Smithsonian Institution.
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Hughes H-1, record-breaking racing plane that was designed by American aviator Howard Hughes and engineer Richard Palmer and built by mechanic Glenn Odekirk to be the fastest landplane in the world. The H-1 earned this title in 1935, when it achieved a new world speed record of 567.113 km/hr (352.388 mph) above Santa Ana, California. The H-1 later broke the transcontinental speed record, flying from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, in 7 hours 28 minutes 25 seconds.
Building the H-1
Eccentric manufacturer and movie producer Howard Hughes became interested in flight while directing his ambitious war film Hell’s Angels (1930). He bought a racing plane from Boeing, and in early 1934 won his first aviation trophy at an air race in Miami. He decided to build the fastest plane in the world and had his company, Hughes Aircraft, build the Hughes H-1.
Hughes equipped his plane with a Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp Junior radial engine, the same model used by the U.S. Navy’s Grumman F3F fighter. This engine was rated at 700 horsepower (hp), but by feeding it high-grade 100-octane fuel, that increased to 900 hp. Using such high-octane fuel later became standard in aviation. The drag of the air-cooled front-mounted Twin Wasp Junior was minimized by covering the engine with a bell-shaped cowling that streamlined the air around it.
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Cutting down on drag in general was of particular importance to Hughes. The racer’s landing gear folded into slots in the wings, which were sanded. Hughes even had every screw tightened so that its slot was in line with the airstream.
Minimizing weight was equally important. The racer’s fuselage was lightweight duralumin and its wings plywood. The wings used to break the world speed record in 1935 were short, making the H-1 difficult to maneuver. They gave the plane a wingspan of just 7.6 meters (25 feet), compared with the H-1’s length of 8.23 meters (27 feet). The wings used to break the transcontinental speed record in 1937 were longer, at 9.2 meters (30 feet).
Breaking the speed record
The H-1’s official speed trial was held in Santa Ana, California, on September 13, 1935, under the supervision of the International Aeronautical Federation (FAI). Amelia Earhart served as Hughes’s observer from the air. The contest rules required that Hughes fly his plane at least four times over a 3-km (1.9-mile) course at no more than 61 meters (200 feet) above sea level. He was allowed to dive into each pass, but from no higher than 305 meters (1,000 feet). Finally, he had to land the plane afterward without serious damage. The FAI would accept the best of the electronically recorded times.
To reduce its weight, the H-1 carried only enough gas for five or six runs. Hughes nevertheless tried for a seventh, and then the engine cut out. Hughes remained cool and successfully managed a wheels-up belly landing in a nearby beet field. Although the propeller blades were badly damaged in the process, the fuselage only had minor scratches, so the judges accepted the landing. Hughes’s fastest pass occurred at 567.113 km/hr (352.388 mph). This speed easily broke the previous record of 505.847 km/hr (314.319 mph).
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The transcontinental speed record
Hughes’s next ambition was to break the transcontinental speed record. The preparations took more than a year and an additional $40,000, but the actual decision to fly was on spur of the moment. After taking the H-1 out for an hour-and-a-half flight on January 18, 1937, Hughes told a shocked Odekirk that he would fly the plane to the East Coast that night. Both Odekirk and Palmer tried to dissuade him (unsuccessfully) because the H-1 had no instruments for night flying.
Instead of sleeping or even resting ahead of time, Hughes took a date to dinner. He then took a cab to the airport, where he lifted off at 2:14 am. He flew at 4,600 meters (15,000 feet) and higher for 7 hours 28 minutes 25 seconds at an average speed of 526.4 km/hr (327.1 mph), touching down in Newark at 12:42 pm. Hughes’s record lasted until 1946, when it was broken by a P-51 Mustang flown by stunt pilot Paul Mantz.
Influence and legacy
The Hughes H-1 was a milestone in aviation, showing that radial-engine aircraft could compete in speed with planes possessing lower-drag inline engines. After its transcontinental flight, the H-1 was kept in the Hughes factory in Culver City, California. In 1975 Hughes donated the racer to the Smithsonian Institution, where it is part of the collection of the National Air and Space Museum.