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Description
Howard Hughes, was one of the greatest aviation personalities of the 20th Century. He was the only American to win the Harmon Trophy twice as the world's most outstanding aviator in an age when the public was captivated by airplanes and airmen. Hughes set a number of aviation records in planes that he built or modified, pioneered transcontinental air routes, was a major force behind one of the world's great airlines, and established an aircraft manufacturing concern that became one of the leading aerospace companies in the 20th Century. Though he won many awards and received numerous accolades from the aviation community, he is usually remembered as an eccentric, philandering billionaire who built the Spruce Goose.
In 2004, The Aviator, released by the Miramax Film Corporation, re-awakened the public's interest in Howard Hughes. Some of the most spectacular scenes of this popular movie involved the crash of the XF-11, an experimental photo-reconnaissance plane built for the United States Army Air Forces by Hughes Aircraft. Howard Hughes was at the controls of the XF-11 on its maiden flight and was severely injured when it smashed into a residential area in Beverly Hills, California, while Hughes was attempting to make an emergency landing on a nearby golf course.
While information on the development of the XF-11 and the events leading up the crash are readily available, very little has appeared in print on Hughes earlier attempts to secure a production contract for a military version of the H-1 Racer or the privately funded D-2, which served as the prototype for the notorious XF-11. Even less has been written on how Hughes transformed Hughes Aircraft from an unsuccessful airframe manufacturer to a leading supplier of radar, electronic fire-control systems, and air-to-air guided missiles.
As the title suggests Howard Hughes was a visionary ahead of his time. Although he was a self-taught engineer with little if any formal training, Hughes embraced a broad range of cutting edge technologies that he applied in his various aviation projects. He was obsessed with streamlining and the need to fly ever faster, was enamoured with high altitude flight, and made use of the latest oxygen gear and meteorological expertise in his transcontinental record breaking flights. Hughes led the way in intercontinental air travel, pioneered the use of composite materials for aircraft construction, built the first "wide body" transport, and always made use of the latest in radio technology. In just twelve years--from 1935 to 1947Howard Hughes built and flew the fastest landplane in the world, set three transcontinental speed records, established a new record for around-the-world flight, and built and flew the largest airplane in the world. Along the way Howard Hughes garnered enough accolades for a lifetime including: two Harmon International Trophies, a Collier Trophy, the Ghanute Award, a Congressional Medal, the keys to several cities, and a ticker-tape parade down New York's Broadway.
But this story is about Hughes involvement with the U. S. Air Force, a relationship that spanned seventeen years. It began in 1935 when he submitted the design for the XP-2 pursuit plane and ended in 1953 when he gave all the patents, trademarks, and goodwill of the Hughes Tool Company's Aircraft Division, along with all of the stock of the newly established Hughes Aircraft Company to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In the interim Hughes Aircraft proposed four different aircraft designs to the Air Force, obtained a contract to develop the Falcon air-to-air missile, supplied the radar for the first all-weather Air Force jet interceptors, and build the first totally integrated airborne fire control system.
The article that follows is divided into three parts: Part 1, which appears in this issue of Air Power History, will discuss Hughes attempts to enter the military airframe business by entering the design competitions sponsored by the Army Air Corps in the 1930s. Part 2, which will appear in a future issue, will discuss Hughes attempts to sell high performance military aircraft to the Army Air Forces. A venture that culminated in the development of the XF-11, which some claim to be one of the most beautiful piston powered airplane ever flown even though it was obsolete by the time it was finally accepted by the Air Force in 1947. Part 3, will discuss how Howard Hughes's life-long interest in radio electronics led to the establishment of the electronics laboratory that laid the ground work for transforming Hughes Aircraft into the Air Force's premier supplier of radar, guided missiles and fire-control systems.
Part 1: The Air Corps Design Competitions
Howard Hughes involvement with the Air Force began in the spring of 1935 when he decided to enter the design competition for an experimental single-seat fighter. In January of that year, the Material Division of the Army Air Corps (predecessor to the U.S. Air Force), circulated proposals inviting the aviation industry to submit designs for one and two-place pursuit planes having an all-metal monocoque fuselage with cantilever monoplane wings. (1) The submittals were divided into two categories: a design competition to produce a concept aircraft that would form the basis for a long term development project, and a production contract competition to provide a sample aircraft that would become the prototype for the production of new Air Corps fighter. Entrants in the design competition did not have to build an aircraft. They only had to submit engineering data and preliminary drawings based on a comprehensive set of the specifications established by the Material Division for each type. Bids for the design portion of the competition were to be opened on May 6, 1935.
The design submitted by the Hughes team was a variation on the H-1 racer then under construction by another team of Hughes engineers working out of a leased warehouse building across the street from the Grand Central Airport in Glendale, California. (2) The idea for the H-1 was conceived while Hughes was attending the All-American Air Races in Miami, Florida, in mid January 1934. James R. Wedell, holder of the world's land plane speed record of 305 mph was there too. On January 12th, Wedell gave an exhibition flight in his record setting airplane, the Wedell-Williams 44, that involved three circuits... |
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