AOPA Pilot H-1 article by Ken Scott

Another real fine article written by Ken Scott. This time in the July issue of AOPA Pilot. The article is on Jim Wright's absolutely unbelievable recreation
of the Hughes H-1 Racer. Ken does a wonderful job describing the journey by Mr Wright and his crew to complete the Racer and the utter awe felt by those lucky enough to have seen her. I saw her twice. But the most memorable was at her home in Cottage Grove. John Hughes, Dwain Harris, my youngest son Robert and I stopped in Cottage Grove in 2003 on our way to the Arlington Flyin to hopefully get a glimpse of the Racer. The hangar was closed, but Mr. Wright came out after seeing us mull around and invited us inside where we had a great visit and time to gawk at the H-1. What a gentleman Jim Wright was. The visit was important to my high schooler son Robert who was that year doing a biography on Howard Hughes. After Cottage Grove, we flew to McMinnville to see the Spruce Goose (I have spent most on my life in SoCal and had never seen it, other then from a C-150 as it was towed from its original hangar over to the the dome built for its display in Long Beach harbor). Great memories that year were shattered by the news of Wright's passing in the Racer on their way back from OSH that same year. This article is definately worth reading.

If any take Air and Space Magazine, Ken has had two great articles I know of in that magazine. Thanks Ken for another great story.

It is a very well written article, thanks Ken.

I had the pleasure of seeing the H-1 Racer at Reno - it certainly had all of the viewers in awe at the quality of the craftsmanship.

There was a replica in the dome at Long Beach with the Spruce Goose, did that go to Oregon too?

I also had the pleasure of a pre-opening talk at the Spruce Goose dome given to the Hughes Management Club - the speaker was the co-pilot on the Goose's only flight - quite fascinating, even he didn't know it was going to be a real flight....

Link

Here's the link to the article:

http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2011/july/feature_racer.html

I was glad to see the article by Ken Scott in this month's AOPA Pilot magazine. I just received it yesterday and haven't sat down and read it in its entirety.

I was privileged to see Mr. Wright's H-1 at Oshkosh and my memory is that it seemed so "petite." Having read about the original and having seen photos of it, I assumed it was a big airplane, but it wasn't. It was one of the few racers of that era that I could lean over at my waist and view the cockpit and instrument panel. I cherish the photos I made that day.

I was truly saddened when I learned of the crash in Yellowstone National Park just a few days after I had seen it at Oshkosh. I doubt I'll see another H-1 with such beauty and craftsmanship in my lifetime.

I remember reading that the original had an unfortunate encounter with a beet field about where the Tustin blimp hangars now sit. Hughes was flying for a speed record and was so thrilled he would not knock it off. On about pass #7 he ran out of go-juice and bellied it in. It was soon rebuilt. In the mean time he borrowed a plane from Jackie Cochran, that he never returned or paid for. The guys that built and maintained the H1 were basically the staff that took care of his wing of fighters that he used to film Hells Angels.

From Hughes, Diaries, Memos & Letters by Richard Hack.

Ken is probably the smartest aviation writer around that doesn't have a regular slot in one of the leading mags, and I've always thought that was a real pity. Of course he'd say the world doesn't want to read his stuff all the time, but I know the reverse would be true.

I had the pleasure of visiting the H-1 at Cottage Grove with Jerry VanGrunsven in Sept '02, and got to have a good poke around with my camera. The shots are on transparency, which I've always meant to get scanned - perhaps I'll try and get that sorted sometime.