Hughes H-1
The Hughes H-1 Special was the first airplane built for himself in 1934 by aviation and film enthusiast US millionaire Howard Hughes . It was a single-seat, single - engine, low - wing aircraft with a hydraulically retractable tail wheel landing gear , which was specially designed for speed competitions.
history
Development and construction
The first racing aircraft used by Hughes was the one-off Boeing 100A , which was specially built for him and delivered on July 25, 1929. The Boeing 100A bore the hallmark N247Y and was supposedly the fastest private aircraft worldwide. Hughes took part in the All-American Air Races in Miami in January 1934 with the heavily modified machine and achieved a speed about a third higher than the Boeing P-12 and Boeing F4B fighter planes that were also participating , on which the civilian one was Model 100 based.
Based on the experience with the Boeing 100A , Hughes decided to build a completely new construction for his record flights on his own responsibility. In mid-1934, a team of 18 people were working on the project in a hangar at Glendale Airport . In addition to the newly hired designer Ricard Palmer, the team also included the pilot and mechanic Glen Odekirk, who had already been responsible for the conversion of the Model 100. The new racing aircraft was completed under strict secrecy within 18 months. As a drive, Palmer chose the newer double-row Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp Junior , which had a significantly smaller frontal area, instead of the Pratt & Whitney Wasp common in contemporary racing aircraft .
World speed record in 1935
Even before finishing the machine had studies with a model in NACA - wind tunnel resulting in Langley that could be achieved with the design of a maximum speed of 365 mph (584 km / h). In August 10, 1935, the first flight of the machine, which received the registration number (N) R258Y, took place with Hughes at the wheel. The H-1 probably didn't take off again until September 12, 1935 from Martin Field near Santa Ana . However, the record attempt planned for this day had to be aborted after three out of four mandatory fly-bys on a 3 km measurement route because of the falling darkness. The next day, September 13, 1935, Hughes set a new speed record for land aircraft on five measurement flights at an average speed of 567.12 km / h (352.39 mph). Hughes even tried a sixth pass, since he was convinced he could achieve an even higher speed. However, the engine failed suddenly and Hughes had to make an emergency landing in a beet field, but the aircraft was not deeply damaged. The cause was later determined to be an interruption in the fuel supply due to a ball of steel wool in the gasoline line.
Remodeling in 1936
In 1936 the H-1 was rebuilt with new wings and engine modifications. The new wings, optimized for high speeds at greater heights, now had a wingspan of 9.7 m and the engine was supposed to produce up to 1100 hp for a short time. Since Hughes wanted to concentrate on long-distance record flights, the H-1 received an oxygen supply for the pilot and new radio equipment for the first time.
Transcontinental record 1937
In the meantime, Hughes had already set a new transcontinental record for the route from Burbank (Los Angeles) to Newark (New York) in January 1936 with a flight time of 9 hours 27 minutes. For this he used a Northrop Gamma borrowed from record pilot Jacqueline Cochran . He wanted to carry out his transcontinental flight with the H-1 planned for January 1937 as part of the Bendix Trophy . Because of an objection from one participant that this was an unfair competition, Hughes promised to keep the flight independent of the competition. On January 19, 1937, he took off from Burbank at 2:14 am local time for his flight to Newark, which this time he reached in a new record time of 7 hours 28 minutes. Its average speed over the 2490 mile (4000 km) route was 332 mph (531 km / h).
The whereabouts of the H-1
The H-1 stayed in Newark for a year and then was flown back to California. Hughes eventually sold the H-1, bought it back, but never flew it again. In 1975, shortly before his death, he bequeathed it to the Smithsonian with a total flight time of 40.5 hours; he had flown about half the flight time himself. The H-1 has since been on display at the National Air and Space Museum .
construction
Airframe
The fuselage of the machine was made of aluminum half-shell construction with countersunk rivets in order to achieve a high aerodynamic quality. The wing was made in composite construction, planked with plywood and additionally covered with fabric to improve the surface quality. All oars had an aluminum structure that was covered with fabric. The wings had a V-position of 7 °.
Engine
The Pratt & Whitney R-1535 Twin Wasp Junior double radial engine, which could briefly produce 1000 hp at sea level, was clad with a NACA hood and gave its power to a constant-speed two-bladed variable-pitch propeller from Hamilton Standard .
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| crew | 1 |
| length | 8.23 m |
| span | 7.6 m (25 ft.) Or 9.7 m (31 ft. 9 in.) |
| height | 2.44 m |
| Empty mass | 1617 kg |
| Takeoff mass | 2491 kg |
| Engine | Pratt & Whitney R-1535 with 700 HP (approx. 510 kW) continuous output, two-blade controllable pitch propeller |
literature
- Erich H. Heimann: The fastest aircraft in the world. 1906 until today. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-87943-540-5 .
- Bill Gunston: Howard Hughes's Amazing Aircraft, Part One. In: Airplane Monthly. Vol. 1, May 1973, ISSN 0143-7240 , pp. 41-44.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Peter M. Bowers: Boeing Aircraft since 1916 , Putnam, 1989, p. 171
- ^ Gunston, 1973, p. 41
- ↑ a b Timothy Foote: Howard Hughes' H-1 Carried Him "All the Way". In: Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian Institution, February 1995, accessed on July 29, 2018 (English): "[...] it was a product of money and ambition."
- ↑ a b Bryan R. Swopes: 13 September 1935. In: This Day in Aviation. 2017, accessed on July 25, 2018 .
- ↑ Howard Hughes (USA). In: Records. Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, accessed on July 28, 2018 (English): "Speed over a 3 km course [...] 567.12 km / h"
- ^ A b Hughes, Riding Gale, Sets Record Of 7 1/2 Hours in Flight From Coast. Averages 332 Miles an Hour to Make Speed-Distance Mark for Land Planes. The New York Times , January 19, 1936, accessed August 1, 2018 (English): “It was 2:14 o'clock in the morning and pitch dark when the throttle at the Union Air Depot at Burbank and released the 1,100 horsepower sealed in the fourteen cylinders of his supercharged Twin Row Wasp engine. "
- ^ The four winds. (PDF) In: FLIGHT, JANUARY 16, 1936. Flight International , January 16, 1936, p. 60 , accessed on August 1, 2018 (English): “Mr. Howard Hughes, holder of the world's speed record for landplanes, has crossed from Los Angeles to New York in 9 hr. 27 min. 10 sec. "
- ↑ Bryan R. Swopes: January 19, 1937. In: This Day in Aviation. 2017, accessed on August 1, 2018 .
- ↑ Hughes H-1 Racer. In: National Air and Space Museum. Smithsonian Institution, accessed July 25, 2018 .