Built by Jean Hugot in Germany and patterned on a Bleriot XI, the aircraft was powered by a Delfosse three-cylinder engine. During a take-off attempt on 24 July 1911, the aircraft was destroyed by fire, the pilot escaping without injury.
With a lot of lift for its small size and light weight, the HU-GO Craft wrings a 105-mph cruise speed out of a mere 65-hp Continental. This single-seater biplane is largely conventional in construction, with fuselage and tail group of welded steel tubing and wings are wood. All surfaces are fabric covered. Several pilots have logged some 275 hours in the HU-GO Craft with no problems reported.
By March 1974 the original/prototype HU-GO Craft was in the EAA Museum after 400 hours in 8.5 years.
Gross Wt. 848 lb
Empty Wt. 558 lb
Fuel capaci¬ty 12 USG
Wingspan 17 ft
Length 14 ft 5 in
Top speed 115 mph.
Cruise 105 mph.
Stall 55 mph.
Climb rate 1000 fpm
Takeoff run 500 ft
Landing roll 500 ft
Range 250 miles
American shipbuilder Henry Kaiser introduced the Liberty ship but the vessels were being sunk prompting him to think of a massive cargo aircraft. Initially rebuffed by the US Government, Kaiser sought a partnership that would lend credence to his plan. That partner was Howard Hughes. Howard Hughes sponsored the Hughes H-4 Hercules. Made entirely of wood, almost entirely of laminated birch, this eight-engined flying-boat had the greatest wingspan (320 ft; 97.54 m) of any aircraft built to date.
The aircraft was not completed until September 1945. The design problems which Hughes and his team encountered in creating a 183 tonne (180 ton) aircraft from non strategic materials delayed the project until after the war, assembly began in June 1946.
House movers being engaged to transport its 66.75 m (219 m) laminated plywood hull along specially laid roads from Culver City, California to Terminal Island, Long Beach where final assembly began.
On 2 November 1947 Hughes boarded the Hercules, started the eight 3000 hp Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major engines and taxied out into the bay, ostensibly for water handling tests. Once on the open water, however, Hughes opened up the Spruce Goose’s and took off, flying for about 0.6 km (1 mile), for less than a minute, at a height of 70 feet (21 m) at a speed of 80 mph (128 kph).
The Hercules never flew again. It was stored in a specially constructed hangar at Long Beach, where it remains today, heavily guarded by Hughes employees, the largest aircraft ever to fly. Some say that having proved his point that the machine could fly, Hughes simply lost interest; others claim that even in those few brief moments of flight the Hercules creaked and groaned and handled so badly that Hughes never dared fly it again.
Engines: 8 x 3,000 h.p. Pratt & Whitney R-4360-4A radial. Replaced in 1951 by P&W Wasp Major TS13-3Gs.
Propellers: 8 x Hamilton Standard 24F60-35s
Prop diameter: 17ft 2in diameter (Engine No 4 had a 16ft 2in-diameter)
Wingspan: 320ft 0in
Tailplane span: 113ft 6in
Wing area: 11,430 sq.ft
Maximum wing thickness: 11ft 6in
Length: 218ft 6.25in
Height overall: 79ft 3 3/8in
Fuselage height 30ft 0in
Payload: 180,0001b
Maximum weight: 400,0001b
Internal fuel: 14,000 USgal
Maximum speed: 218 m.p.h.
Cruising speed: 175 m.p.h.
Alighting speed: 78 m.p.h.
Maximum range: 3,500 miles
Service ceiling: 24,000ft (300,0001b gross weight)
Rate of climb: 700ft/min to 1,000ft/min, depending on weight
The Hughes XF-11 experimental twin-engined, twin-boom photo-reconnaissance aircraft, which had contrarotating propellers, crashed on its maiden flight, seriously injuring Hughes.
The XF 11 was a candidate for a military contract.
On July 7,1946, Hughes took his XF 11 reconnaissance airplane on its first flight. Though photographed in the plane just before the test, he intended the flight to be secret. The contra-rotating props developed problems, and the plane crashed, seriously injuring Hughes. Full power. Release brakes. Rolling. Lifting off. Climbing. Everything perfect. Power reduction. Right props slip into reverse pitch. Fierce asymmetric thrust (one second). Feathering in-op (two seconds). Try to hold heading (three seconds). Back on right, full power on left (four seconds). No good, back on both (five seconds). Crash.
On April 15, 1947, Hughes successfully test flew a second version of the XF 11, this one with single rotation airscrews, and personally conducted most of the test program.
Hughes Aircraft Co was founded in 1935 by businessman/film magnate Howard Hughes to produce the Hughes H-1 racing aeroplane, in which Hughes established a world landplane speed record of 352.46mph (567.23kmh).
Engines: 1
Hughes Aircraft Co was founded in 1935 by businessman/film magnate Howard Hughes to produce the Hughes H-1 racing aeroplane, in which Hughes established a world landplane speed record of 352.46mph (567.23kmh). The Hughes XF-11 experimental twin-engined, twin-boom photo-reconnaissance aircraft, which had contrarotating propellers, crashed on its maiden flight, seriously injuring Hughes. He then sponsored the massive Hughes H-4 Hercules. Made entirely of wood, this eight-engined flying-boat had the greatest wingspan (320 ft; 97.54 m) of any aircraft built to date. It made its one and only flight on November 2,1947 with Howard Hughes at the controls.
Between 1949-1952 the Hughes Aircraft Company built and tested the XH-1 heavylift helicopter, designed as a “flying crane” for the USAF.
Hughes owned Kellett designs.
Known formerly as the Hughes Tool Company, became a Division of the Summa Corporation in the early 1970s. Hughes first two-seat light helicopter, the Model 269, first flew in 1955. It continued in production, though muchmodified, as the Hughes 300. Production of the 0H-6A Cayuse turbine helicopter for the U.S. Army and other military forces led to the commercial Model 500 one/sevenseat light helicopter, with military variants in the Defender series. Hughes won the U.S. Army’s competition for an Advanced Attack Helicopter (AAH) with its Model 77, a twin-turbine design which first flew in September 1975, and which received the Army designation YAH-64 Apache. Also developed the unique NOTAR (no tail rotor) anti-torque system, initially tested on a converted 0H-6A in December 1981. Company taken over by McDonnell Douglas January 1984.
Hughes Helicopters became McDonnell Douglas Helicopters in January 1986 then later to Lynn Tilton’s Patriarch Partners in 2005.
This aircraft was designed and built by Mike Huffman during the late 1960s and early 1970s. It featured a welded steel-tube fuselage, aluminum wings and tail boom, and composite tail surfaces. Powered by a McCulloch 72-hp target drone engine, it was essentially an ultralight before the ultralight movement began.
A parasol-wing monoplane, the HB.28, was designed and built by the company in the late 1920s.
Flugzeugbau Dr. Georg Huffer produced a civilian version of the First World War Fokker D.VII fighter, known as the Huffer H.9. It was an open-cockpit training/sporting two-seater powered by a Mercedes engine.
Germany
Flugzeugbau Dr. Georg Huffer produced a civilian version of the First World War Fokker D.VII fighter, known as the Huffer H.9. It was an open-cockpit training/sporting two-seater powered by a Mercedes engine. A parasol-wing monoplane, the HB.28, was also designed and built by the company in the late 1920s.
