Howard Hughes H.1 Fighter

While it's true that there are echos of the H-1 in later fighter design, the Corsair and Hellcat being standouts, the H-1 is a good example of design without compromise. It's built around the P&W R-1535 Twin Wasp Jr. engine in a very tight cowling limiting the flexibility of the airframe. As a fighter it would need a strengthened airframe, weapons and armor. It would be under powered as a result. This is what happened to the Seversky P-35.

The H-1 is an elegant airplane built to serve a single purpose in a particular time. It never would have been good as a fighter as a result. However if the technology developed in it's construction would have been swiftly applied in the American aeronautical industry it would have had a profound impact on the first two years of WW2.
 
I'm pretty sure that would outclass any fighter out there for straight-line speed.
I have my doubts, it's a radial after all, thus less aerodynamic. Also, I don't know about beautiful, a bit too long in the nose, and the wings seem too far forward.
 
Romanian cousin

The IAR 80 does look like a huglier, more practical, interpretation of the same design theme. A US fighter inspired or based on the H1 might have ended up looking like that.

300px-IAR-80.jpg
 
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The fastest piston-engined airplane in the world is the round-engined Rare Bear racer, which was, at one time, a fighter. While my drawings are based on the Vultee Vanguard, and work backwards, I previously drew the H-1, and army and navy versions working forward. The army version and the H-1 were lost in a crash.

HughesNavalfighterbombersmall.png
 
The IAR 80 does look like a huglier, more practical, interpretation of the same design theme. A US fighter inspired or based on the H1 might have ended up looking like that.

My version of the IAR-80, powered by an 18 cyl Hercules just happens to be next to the Hughes aircraft in my file.

IAR85.png
 

Cook

Banned
So did Howard. He even demonstrated it.
No, that's a racer, like the Supermarine Seaplane. I mean other companies that wanted to break into the military aviation industry built prototypes; Hughes Aviation didn't have a history of building military aircraft, he was wanting to break into the industry but didn't even build a demonstration model.
 
Yeah, a prototype would at least have places for guns, even if they were filled with lead blocks at first.
 
Howard Hughes wasn't a name that comes to mind when you think of an American patriot. Mostly just really rich and mostly freaky. I was thinking more of the wasted talents of his design engineer, Dick Palmer. People with his talent weren't that common, but such people do not have the ability to build aircraft without financial backing. Howard didn't build the H.1; he ordered the H.1 built. It was a racer, but it was a racer built to a pattern very similar to fighter aircraft that were soon to become considerably important in a future conflict.
 
Howard Hughes wasn't a name that comes to mind when you think of an American patriot. Mostly just really rich and mostly freaky. I was thinking more of the wasted talents of his design engineer, Dick Palmer. People with his talent weren't that common, but such people do not have the ability to build aircraft without financial backing. Howard didn't build the H.1; he ordered the H.1 built. It was a racer, but it was a racer built to a pattern very similar to fighter aircraft that were soon to become considerably important in a future conflict.

May I ask why you do not think that HH is not a patriot?
 
May I ask why you do not think that HH is not a patriot?

While he did not have a fighter designed, he did design a brassiere for Jane Russell. I don't know if he used an engineer for that. I believe he took a personal interest. It's all a matter of priorities. May I ask if you thought he was a patriot?
 
Try Googling "Glomar Explorer" and "Project Azorian".

Howard Hughes reportedly had his hand in several Cold War clandestine projects. He probably fits the definition of a patriot at that time.
 

Cook

Banned
Yeah, a prototype would at least have places for guns, even if they were filled with lead blocks at first.
Yep. Miles Aviation for example can complain about the ‘closed shop’ of military aviation contractors, because they did build a number of prototypes of fighter aircraft, including the M20 in 1940 that was every bit the equal of the Hurricane (and had eight .303 guns to the Hurricane Mk 1's six). Designed and built in nine weeks and two days by the way.
 
Yep. Miles Aviation for example can complain about the ‘closed shop’ of military aviation contractors, because they did build a number of prototypes of fighter aircraft, including the M20 in 1940 that was every bit the equal of the Hurricane (and had eight .303 guns to the Hurricane Mk 1's six). Designed and built in nine weeks and two days by the way.

Eric "Winkle" Brown flew the M.20 and found it remarkably less than a Hurricane in performance. Sorry, but I value his opinion more. The Hurricane MkI had 8 guns, the MkII had 12. So what. Why did Miles build the M.20? Becaused they were asked to do it, and were paid for their efforts. The government supplied a Merlin power egg, machine guns, and any other GFE to complete it. Had James Martin and Beverley Shenstone been involved in the project, it might have resulted in a valuable weapon of war, instead of a mere footnote of absolutely no consequence. Sorry, it did have a nice canopy, but Miles didn't build that.
A point, if I may make one, is that nobody asked Howard Hughes (apparently a patriot) to build a fighter aircraft based on a racer which out-performed all other aircraft in the world for speed and range, and looked a lot like fighters of the future were going to look. Dick Palmer, the design engineer who designed that machine, ended up working for another company, building trainers.
 
While he did not have a fighter designed, he did design a brassiere for Jane Russell. I don't know if he used an engineer for that. I believe he took a personal interest. It's all a matter of priorities. May I ask if you thought he was a patriot?

Sounds to me like he had his priorities straight... :D


EDIT: I'll just add that I cannot see a pilot anywhere in the world who wouldn't like to be able to say he's flying an "Outlaw"...
 
Sounds to me like he had his priorities straight... :D


EDIT: I'll just add that I cannot see a pilot anywhere in the world who wouldn't like to be able to say he's flying an "Outlaw"...

Howard was a noted delegater, but this, he considered, was a time to get hands on. I, on the other hand, am an all-natural kind of guy. There was a John Wayne movie with Janet Leigh that would show what I'm talking about. An aerodymamicist's dream, but a naturalist's worst nightmare. And I'm not talking about the Sabre jets.
 
While he did not have a fighter designed, he did design a brassiere for Jane Russell. I don't know if he used an engineer for that. I believe he took a personal interest. It's all a matter of priorities. May I ask if you thought he was a patriot?

So many people have already used most of my replies but he founded TWA and heavily influenced the Lockheed Constellation.
 
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