Hughes H-1 Racer

Hughes H-1 Racer

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Photographed by Jimmy Leeward from his P-51D Mustang, ’Cloud Dancer’ showing pilot/owner Jim Wright at the controls of the Racer replica.

Remarks by Dennis Parker, member of the H-1 design team: "The Hughes Racer replica is virtually exact to the original. The engine is a Pratt & Whitney R-1535 like the original, which we believe is the only flying example of an R-1535 in the world. All of the instruments are authetic and are exactly the same ones that are installed in the original. All instruments have been refurbished and are in good working order.

The only alterations made, were done so for safety sake. For example, when the H-1 is landing and taxiing the pilot has zero forward visibility. Take a look at how far back and low the cockpit is on the fuselage. So for safety sake we installed a video camera about the size of a lipstick onto the retractable air scoop under the cowl. This feeds a small removable monitor in the cockpit.

Hughes' solution to this problem was to make the seat able to crank the pilot up so his head stuck well up out of the canopy. Jim Wright felt that this was unacceptable for safety reasons, because in the event of the aircraft flipping over on its top the pilot would almost certainly be killed.

The only other alteration cannot be seen. We acquired the original auto-pilot used but by todays standards it is a cumbersome collection of hydraulic valves and other mechanisms. So the internal portion of the auto-pilot was replaced with a modern electronic autopilot."

See the complete story of the Hughes H-1 project on the Wright Tools Co. web site.


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Photographed by Jimmy Leeward from his P-51D Mustang, ’Cloud Dancer’ showing pilot/owner Jim Wright at the controls of the Racer replica. Remarks by Dennis Parker, member of the H-1 design team: "The Hughes Racer replica is virtually exact to the original. The engine is a Pratt & Whitney R-1535 like the original, which we believe is the only flying example of an R-1535 in the world. All of the instruments are authetic and are exactly the same ones that are installed in the original. All instruments have been refurbished and are in good working order. The only alterations made, were done so for safety sake. For example, when the H-1 is landing and taxiing the pilot has zero forward visibility. Take a look at how far back and low the cockpit is on the fuselage. So for safety sake we installed a video camera about the size of a lipstick onto the retractable air scoop under the cowl. This feeds a small removable monitor in the cockpit. Hughes' solution to this problem was to make the seat able to crank the pilot up so his head stuck well up out of the canopy. Jim Wright felt that this was unacceptable for safety reasons, because in the event of the aircraft flipping over on its top the pilot would almost certainly be killed. The only other alteration cannot be seen. We acquired the original auto-pilot used but by todays standards it is a cumbersome collection of hydraulic valves and other mechanisms. So the internal portion of the auto-pilot was replaced with a modern electronic autopilot." See the complete story of the Hughes H-1 project on the Wright Tools Co. web site.