The Bear

Left: January 28, 2003. 15 Minutes after landing. Left to right Betty Wright, Mike Mann, Jim Wright

Right: September 13, 1935. Shortly after Howard Hughes was forced down into a beet field in his H-1.

Two unplanned ends to flights in the H-1 Racer over 67 years apart. When you ride out a landing like this in an H-1 Racer, you know one or two things different than someone who hasn't.

February 18, 2003

Repairs are moving along rapidly

February 24, 2003

The engine inspection is complete. The gearbox was disassembled and thoroughly tested. The rare R-1535 Twin Wasp Jr. is completely free from damage.

February 27, 2003

Cowl repair nearly complete. Damaged aileron & flap complete and awaiting paint.

March 24, 2003

Wing tip repair nearly complete, awaiting final preparation before paint.

March 31, 2003

Final preparation before paint nearly complete.

April 1, 2003

First coats of paint on wing tip. Gear repairs complete.

April 3, 2003

Final fuselage skin installed.

April 7, 2003

Gary Marshal prepping final coat of paint. New propeller has arrived.

Above: Wing tip repair complete

May 19, 2003

Final fairing complete. Test flight scheduled for end of week.

        It was always thought to be the intent of the Hughes Racer Reproduction team to present the H-1 Racer Reproduction in the same historical context as the original Racer that Howard Hughes built and flew. It is the intent of the project to recreate his records and deeds, all except the unfortunate incident that led him to a wheels up landing in the beet field in September of 1935. As fate would have it, the H-1 Racer Reproduction has now nearly duplicated even that unfortunate feat. 

Tuesday, January 28, 2003 saw the aircraft in the air again for a photo shoot for the cover page of an upcoming aviation magazine. The flight had lasted over an hour. Upon return to Cottage Grove, pilot Jim Wright followed his standard set down procedures, and set up for what he thought to be a normal landing. Winds were light, and visibility was good. Everything looked good. Landing gear lights showed down and locked. Unfortunately, the landing gear lights were malfunctioning, as was the right landing gear. The right landing gear was locked 1/3 of the way down. The left had fully extended and locked, but the right had not. Jim was about to land with only one gear leg down, and did not know it. 

As the aircraft touched down, Jim immediately realized that the right gear had failed. He determined immediately not to attempt to “fly it off”, as this is almost always a mistake. He was able to hold the right wingtip off for several hundred feet while the aircraft decelerated. After the wingtip began contacting the pavement, the aircraft swerved off the pavement and came to rest in the grass alongside the airstrip. Fortunately the aircraft did not incur major structural damage. 

Repair work began immediately. The propeller will be replaced, and there will be some metal work to do near the empennage. The bottom part of the cowling will have to be replaced, and the engine is undergoing inspection. There was no major structural damage. Overall damage was surprisingly limited, and repair estimates are from 4-6 months. 

After the landing the crew raced out to the site only to find Jim calmly securing the aircraft and preparing the right landing gear to extend manually (once the nose was lifted). “Sometimes you bite the bear, and sometimes the bear bites you,” he joked as the first onlookers came up, “this is all just part of the fun.” (He later conceded that riding out a landing made at 110 mph with only one gear leg down was not actually very much fun at all, but the crew had already suspected as much!) 

We thank those who have sent their kind regards. We will keep our supporters informed regarding the repair progress, and hopefully will see the H-1 in the sky again around May 2003.