H-1 RACER "LONG WING VERSION"

The Hughes H-1 Racer was an American sports and performance aircraft from the interwar period. The drive was provided by a single Pratt and Whitney R-1535 engine with a power increased to 1000 KM. The prototype flight took place in 1935. The machine never entered mass production. Work on the Hughes H-1 Racer began in 1934, and the main designer of the new aircraft was Richard Palmer. The plane was constructed in a low-wing configuration, and it also used a powerful engine for those times. The machine was also carefully refined aerodynamically, thanks to tests carried out in the wind tunnel, which at that time was not a solution used on a large scale. Two types of wings with different spans were also used: "short" - to achieve the highest possible maximum speed, and "long" - for long-distance flights. Only one copy of this plane was built, which has been on display at the Smithsonian Institute since 1975.