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”.
I will second that and that film was the firt time I realized that DeCaprio could in a few years do somehing like his role in The Departed
Anyone that watches “The Aviator” will want to watch the actual film that Hughes made called “Hell’s Angels” this version is a very good copy that has cleaned up the aged video and the movie is fantastic with incredible filming of the aircraft and aerial combat stunts.
If you check your library system there is a good chance that they will have a copy that you can check out for free.
http://www.amazon.com/Howard-Hughes-Hells-Angels-Lyon/dp/B0002MHE1O