Replies

Unless my eyes (and old brain) deceive me...
here’s info for the youngster regarding that beautiful airplane
in post 42.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Hughes

The H-1 Racer featured a number of design innovations:
it had retractable landing gear and all rivets and joints
set flush into the body of the aircraft to reduce drag. The H-1 Racer
is thought to have influenced the design of a number of World War II
fighters such as the Mitsubishi Zero, the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and the
F8F Bearcat;[13] although that has never been reliably confirmed.

The H-1 Racer was donated to the Smithsonian in 1975
and is on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-1_Racer

Anyone interested in seeing the H-1 in action (cinematecally)
should get a DVD of “The Aviator”.
Just suffer through Leonardo Dicaprio’s attempt to portray Howard
Hughes (although I personally think he did made a decent try)...
for some very good aviation segments.

I’ll not give a spoiler...but it’s worth it just to see the
scene of Howard Hughes sitting down to a fine meal with Kartherine
Hepburn’s family and a discussion about “family money”.