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58-611: During his work on his 1930 movie Hell's Angels , Howard Hughes employed Glenn Odekirk to maintain the fleet of over 100 aircraft used in the production. The two men shared a common interest in aviation and hatched a plan to build a record -beating aircraft. The aircraft was given many names, but is commonly known as the H-1. It was the first aircraft type produced by the Hughes Aircraft company. Design studies began in 1934 with an exacting scale model (over two feet in length) that

116-604: A silent , with James Hall and Ben Lyon as Roy and Monte Rutledge, and Norwegian silent film star Greta Nissen cast as Helen, the female lead, and was to be directed by Marshall Neilan . Principal photography began on October 31, 1927, with interiors shot at the Metropolitan Studio in Hollywood . A few weeks into production, however, Hughes' overbearing production techniques forced Neilan to quit. Hughes first hired Luther Reed , on loan from Paramount but still

174-515: A British aristocrat ludicrous. The role was soon filled with a teenage up-and-coming star found by Hall in a revue, and hired by Hughes himself, Jean Harlow. When Hughes made the decision to turn Hell's Angels into a talkie, he hired a then-unknown James Whale , who had just arrived in Hollywood following a successful turn directing the play Journey's End in London and on Broadway, to direct

232-436: A bitch", "goddamn it", and "for Christ's sake", along with the words "ass", "hell", and a few uses of "God" in other scenes. While Harlow, Lyon and Hall received mixed reviews for their acting, Hughes was praised for his hard work on the filming and aircraft sequences. Morduant Hall, reviewer for The New York Times , was especially critical about Harlow's performance, saying, "his film is absorbing and exciting. But while she

290-469: A fixed front section called the vertical stabiliser , used to control yaw, which is movement of the fuselage right to left motion of the nose of the aircraft. The rear section of the vertical fin is the rudder , a movable aerofoil that is used to turn the aircraft's nose right or left. When used in combination with the ailerons , the result is a banking turn, a coordinated turn , the essential feature of aircraft movement. Some aircraft are fitted with

348-465: A half later, Hughes decided to convert his film to sound. The original female lead, Norwegian-American Greta Nissen , had to be replaced due to her accent. Jean Harlow became a major star as her successor. The production took three years (1927–1930) and Hughes spared no expense, so that despite being one of the highest-grossing films of the early sound era, it did not recoup its exorbitant $ 2.8 million cost. Hughes and pilot Harry Perry designed many of

406-500: A mechanic were killed during the film's production. Pilot Al Johnson crashed after hitting wires while landing at Caddo Field, near Van Nuys, California, where most of the location filming took place. Pilot C. K. Phillips crashed while delivering an S.E.5 fighter to the Oakland shooting location. Rupert Syme Macalister, an Australian pilot, was also killed, and mechanic Phil Jones died during production after he failed to bail out before

464-408: A month before Hell's Angels was released; the gap between completion of the dialogue scenes and completion of the aerial combat stunts allowed Whale to be paid, sail back to England, and begin work on the subsequent project, making Hell's Angels , Whale's actual (albeit uncredited) cinema debut, but his second film to be released. With the majority of the film shot and in editing, Hughes realized

522-428: A nighttime gun duel; part-screen full-color for the flames consuming a German Zeppelin; and full-screen full-color for one sequence, which is the only color footage of Harlow's career. In spite of the difficulties, it was and is today considered a landmark of early sound and color use, and of the epic action film genre. Roy and Monte Rutledge are very different British brothers. Straight-laced Roy loves and idealizes

580-717: A similar film, Darryl F. Zanuck 's The Dawn Patrol , would become a competitor at the box office. After attempting to lease all available period aircraft to stall his competitor, Hughes brought a lawsuit through the Caddo Company and the Gainsborough Corporation, that alleged that the screenplay of Hell's Angels was plagiarized. The lawsuit resulted in The Dawn Patrol being rushed through post-production in order to be in theaters before Hell's Angels . In late 1930, Warner Bros. and Zanuck won

638-404: A tail assembly that is hinged to pivot in two axes forward of the fin and stabiliser, in an arrangement referred to as a movable tail . The entire empennage is rotated vertically to actuate the horizontal stabiliser, and sideways to actuate the fin. The aircraft's cockpit voice recorder , flight data recorder and emergency locator transmitter (ELT) are often located in the empennage, because

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696-429: A year and a half into production, after divorcing his wife, the death of two stunt pilots and a mechanic, going through two directors and 2 million dollars, Hughes incorporated the new technology into the half-finished film, but Greta Nissen became the first casualty of the sound age, due to her pronounced Norwegian accent. He paid her for her work and cooperation, and replaced her, because her accent would make her role as

754-492: Is an officer aboard a Zeppelin airship sent to bomb Trafalgar Square , London. As the bombardier-observer, he is lowered below the clouds in a spy basket . He deliberately guides the Zeppelin over water, where the bombs have no effect. Four RFC fighters are sent to intercept the Zeppelin. Roy pilots one, with Monte as his gunner. To gain altitude and speed more quickly, the airship commander decides to sacrifice Karl by cutting

812-473: Is characterised by: Twin fins may be mounted at various points: Unusual fin configurations include: An alternative to the fin-and-tailplane approach is provided by the V-tail and X-tail designs. Here, the tail surfaces are set at diagonal angles, with each surface contributing to both pitch and yaw. The control surfaces, sometimes called ruddervators , act differentially to provide yaw control (in place of

870-426: Is the center of attraction, the picture is a most mediocre piece of work." Harlow had top billing on the posters but in the film itself, she was billed third under Lyon and Hall. It earned $ 2.5 million for its backers at the box office, which made it one of the highest grossing sound films of its era, but still slightly less than its $ 2.8 million production costs. Tony Gaudio and Harry Perry were nominated for

928-573: The Academy Award for Best Cinematography . Hell's Angels has been re-released on VHS and DVD formats by Universal Studios , which in later years acquired the rights to the film. In its original British release, the censor cut more than 30 minutes from the film. The involvement of Howard Hughes in Hell's Angels spawned a niche within enthusiasts in entertainment, aviation and militaria collectibles groups. Aviation enthusiasts have referenced

986-663: The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 , without offering any arguments for that being the case other than "Hughes showed them how it should be done." After the war, Hughes claimed that "it was quite apparent to everyone that the Mitsubishi A6M Zero had been copied from the Hughes H-1 Racer." He claimed the wing shape, tail design and general similarity of the Zero were derived from his racer. Jiro Horikoshi , designer of

1044-805: The Santa Maria Museum of Flight . As of 2016, another H-1 replica is being built at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Data from "Howard Hughes' H-1: The Search for the Fastest Plane in the World". General characteristics Performance Hell%27s Angels (film) Hell's Angels is a 1930 American pre-Code independent epic war film directed and produced by Howard Hughes and director of dialogue James Whale . Written by Harry Behn and Howard Estabrook and starring Ben Lyon , James Hall and Jean Harlow , it

1102-516: The aluminium skin of the aircraft extremely smooth. The H-1 had retractable main landing gear and a fully retractable hydraulically actuated tail skid to reduce the drag of a conventional wheel and maximize speed. It was fitted with a Pratt & Whitney R-1535 twin-row 14-cylinder radial engine of 1,535 cubic inches (25.15 L), originally rated at 700 horsepower (522 kW) but tuned to produce over 1,000 horsepower (750 kW). To contest both maximum speed and long-distance racing records

1160-612: The flight dynamics of yaw and pitch , as well as housing control surfaces . In spite of effective control surfaces, many early aircraft that lacked a stabilising empennage were virtually unflyable. Even so-called " tailless aircraft " usually have a tail fin (usually a vertical stabiliser ). Heavier-than-air aircraft without any kind of empennage (such as the Northrop B-2 ) are rare, and generally use specially shaped airfoils whose trailing edge provide pitch stability, and rearwards swept wings , often with dihedral to provide

1218-482: The tailplane is called the horizontal stabiliser and is used to provide pitch stability. The rear section of the tailplane is called the elevator , and is a movable aerofoil that controls changes in pitch, the up-and-down motion of the aircraft's nose. In some aircraft the horizontal stabilizer and elevator are one unit, and to control pitch the entire unit moves as one. This is known as a stabilator or full-flying stabiliser . The vertical tail structure has

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1276-604: The 2003 AirVenture at Oshkosh, Wisconsin . On his way home to Oregon, he refueled the aircraft in Gillette, Wyoming . Wright met briefly with local reporters and said that the aircraft had been having propeller "gear problems". An hour after taking off, the aircraft crashed just north of the Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park , killing Wright. The replica, slated to be used in

1334-462: The 3rd and 4th passes. Exhausting the fuel supply, he crash-landed in a beet field south of Santa Ana without serious damage to either himself or the aircraft. When his compatriots arrived at the crash site Hughes said "We can fix her; she'll go faster." Hughes later made minor changes to the H-1 Racer to make it more suitable for a transcontinental speed record attempt. The most significant change

1392-520: The German general alone. He offers to tell what he knows on the condition that there is no witness to his treason but demands a pistol to kill Monte so no one will know of his cowardice. The general gives him his gun and one bullet. Roy cannot persuade Monte to do the right thing and has no choice but to shoot his brother in the back. Afterward, Roy is executed. The British attack gets off to a successful start. Hell's Angels had been originally conceived as

1450-512: The H-1's maiden flight on August 17, 1935, at Grand Central Airport in Glendale, California . A month later, on 13 September at Martin Field near Santa Ana, California , Hughes broke the landplane speed record clocking 352.39 mph (567.12 km/h) averaged over four timed passes. The aircraft was loaded with a minimal amount of fuel to keep the weight down and Hughes was not supposed to make

1508-775: The Mitsubishi Zero strongly denied the allegation of the Hughes H-1 influencing the design of the Japanese fighter aircraft. The Hughes H-1 Racer is featured in the 1940 RKO Radio Pictures movie Men Against the Sky , playing the role of a prototype "McLean Aircraft" high-speed pursuit craft. The original H-1 Racer was donated to the Smithsonian in 1975 and is on display at the National Air and Space Museum . Due to

1566-552: The National Air Race Museum from 1993 to 1994, after which it was placed in storage. Jim Wright of Cottage Grove, Oregon , built a full-scale replica of the H-1 that he first flew in 2002. His replica was so close to the original that the FAA granted it serial number 2 of the model. His achievement in recreating the aircraft was heralded in many aviation magazines. On August 4, 2003, Wright unveiled his H-1 replica at

1624-415: The aerial stunts for the dogfighting scenes. Pioneering aerial cinematographer Elmer Dyer captured many of the aerial scenes with Paul Mantz flying as the principal stunt pilot, leading the team of actual World War I pilots hired by Hughes. Hughes, himself an accomplished aviator, personally directed the aerial scenes from overhead, using radio control to coordinate the flying maneuvers. Mantz considered

1682-532: The aft of the aircraft provides better protection for these in most aircraft crashes. In some aircraft trim devices are provided to eliminate the need for the pilot to maintain constant pressure on the elevator or rudder controls. The trim device may be: Multi-engined aircraft often have trim tabs on the rudder to reduce the pilot effort required to keep the aircraft straight in situations of asymmetrical thrust, such as single engine operations. Aircraft empennage designs may be classified broadly according to

1740-436: The cable that secures his pod. When that is not enough, he orders everything possible to be jettisoned. He then accepts the advice of another officer; the officer and other crewmen obediently leap to their deaths "for Kaiser and fatherland." German machine gunners shoot down three aircraft; Roy and Monte survive a crash landing. After his machine guns jam or run out of ammunition, the last British pilot aloft dives his fighter into

1798-477: The crash of a German Gotha bomber, piloted by Al Wilson , which had been doubled by Igor Sikorsky 's Sikorsky S-29-A , his first biplane built after his arrival in the United States. In total, 137 pilots were used in filming the last major flying scene. Due to the delay while Hughes tinkered with the flying scenes, Whale managed to entirely shoot his film adaptation of Journey's End and release it

Hughes H-1 Racer - Misplaced Pages Continue

1856-464: The dirigible, setting it ablaze. The brothers narrowly avoid being killed by the crashing Zeppelin. Later, Monte is branded a coward in France for shirking his duty when another pilot takes his place and is shot down. Roy and Monte step up when a staff colonel asks for two volunteers for a suicide mission. They are to destroy a vital enemy munitions depot. They will sneak in using a captured German bomber

1914-555: The duel and is shot in the arm. Karl is conscripted into the German Navy, and the two British brothers enlist in the Royal Flying Corps . Monte gets a kiss from a girl at the recruiting station. When Roy finally introduces Monte to Helen, she invites Monte to her flat. Monte tries to rebuff her advances for his brother's sake but gives in. The next morning, however, he is for once ashamed of himself. Meanwhile, Karl

1972-602: The film The Aviator , was destroyed. The official accident report detailed the failure of a counterweight on the constant speed propeller . On December 17, 2003, Cottage Grove State Airport was dedicated as Jim Wright Field. Other non-flying replicas are displayed at the Thomas T. Beam Engineering Complex at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (donated by the Howard Hughes Corporation in 1988) and

2030-597: The film's ending. One talking scene, filmed in Multicolor but printed by Technicolor , provides the only color film footage of Jean Harlow. (Multicolor was not prepared to print the number of inserts needed for the wide release Hughes wanted.) The inexperienced actress, just 18 years old at the time she was cast, required a great deal of attention from Whale, who shut down production for three days while he worked Harlow through her scenes. During principal photography, Hughes, along with pilot Harry Parry, designed many of

2088-432: The fin and tailplane configurations. The overall shapes of individual tail surfaces (tailplane planforms, fin profiles) are similar to wing planforms . The tailplane comprises the tail-mounted fixed horizontal stabiliser and movable elevator. Besides its planform , it is characterised by: Some locations have been given special names: The fin comprises the fixed vertical stabiliser and rudder. Besides its profile , it

2146-444: The final scene, in which an aircraft had to make a steep pullout after a strafing mission, too dangerous, and reported that his pilots would not be able to do the maneuver safely. Hughes piloted the aircraft himself, but as Mantz had predicted, he failed to pull out, crashed and was seriously injured with a skull fracture. He spent the next few days recuperating in the hospital, where he underwent facial surgery. Three other aviators and

2204-606: The flight was 322 mph (518 km/h). Considering that contemporary service aircraft were still biplanes , Hughes fully expected the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) to embrace his aircraft's new design and make the H-1 the basis for a new generation of U.S. fighter aircraft. His efforts to persuade the Air Corps failed. In postwar testimony before the Senate, Hughes indicated that resistance to

2262-662: The innovative design was the basis for the USAAC rejection of the H-1, "I tried to sell that airplane to the Army but they turned it down because at that time the Army did not think a cantilever monoplane was proper for a pursuit ship ...". Aviation writer William Wraga asserts that the H-1 Racer inspired later radial engine fighters such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt , the Mitsubishi A6M Zero and

2320-594: The mission and nearly persuades Roy to do the same, but in the end, Roy drags Monte back to the airfield. They blow up the German munitions dump but get caught in the act by the Imperial German Flying Corps squadron nicknamed the Flying Circus and led by the legendary "Red Baron" - Manfred von Richthofen . Monte defends the bomber with a machine gun until their squadron arrives, and a dogfight breaks out. Their buddy "Baldy" shoots down

2378-457: The necessary yaw stability. In some aircraft with swept wings, the airfoil section or angle of incidence may change radically towards the tip. Structurally, the empennage consists of the entire tail assembly, including the tailfin , the tailplane and the part of the fuselage to which these are attached. On an airliner this would be all the flying and control surfaces behind the rear pressure bulkhead . The front (usually fixed) section of

Hughes H-1 Racer - Misplaced Pages Continue

2436-472: The next morning so that a British brigade will have a chance in their otherwise hopeless afternoon attack. Roy discovers a drunk Helen in a nightclub with Captain Redfield that night. When he tries to take her home, she turns on him, revealing that she never loved him, that she was, in fact, not the young innocent he believed her to be. Devastated, Roy joins Monte for some carousing. Monte decides not to go on

2494-468: The one German still targeting the bomber, but then von Richthofen swoops in and shoots the brothers down. They are captured. As their use of a German plane violated the laws and customs of war , the brothers have the option of talking or facing a firing squad by none other than Roy's old dueling opponent. Monte decides to reveal all he knows of the attack to save his own life. Unable to change his brother's mind, Roy convinces Monte that he should speak with

2552-696: The ongoing construction project at the NASM, the Hughes Racer is being kept on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA . The wings and fuselage have been separated for space reasons. A static replica H-1 was displayed on a pole alongside Hughes' " Spruce Goose " at Long Beach when the latter aircraft was displayed in a dome adjacent to the Queen Mary until 1992. It was later displayed in

2610-457: The original short-span high-speed wings were replaced with a set of longer ones for long-distance flights. Before the H-1 took to the air, the world absolute speed record was 440.7 mph (709.2 km/h), held by a Macchi M.C.72 seaplane and set in October 1934. The landplane record was 314.32 mph (505.85 km/h), averaged by Raymond Delmotte in a Caudron C.460 . Hughes piloted

2668-626: The quality and authenticity of World War I aviation in the film. Empennage The empennage ( / ˌ ɑː m p ɪ ˈ n ɑː ʒ / or / ˈ ɛ m p ɪ n ɪ dʒ / ), also known as the tail or tail assembly , is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow . The term derives from the French language verb empenner which means " to feather an arrow". Most aircraft feature an empennage incorporating vertical and horizontal stabilising surfaces which stabilise

2726-523: The rudder) and act together to provide pitch control (in place of the elevator). An outboard tail is split in two, with each half mounted on a short boom just behind and outboard of each wing tip. It comprises outboard horizontal stabilizers (OHS) and may or may not include additional boom-mounted vertical stabilizers (fins). In this position, the tail surfaces interact constructively with the wingtip vortices and, with careful design, can significantly reduce drag to improve efficiency, without adding unduly to

2784-566: The stars and makers of the film attended, as well as Cecil B. DeMille , Buster Keaton , Gloria Swanson , Dolores del Río , Loretta Young and Grant Withers , Norma Talmadge , Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks , Billie Dove , Joe E. Brown , Joel McCrea , Bebe Daniels , Charles Farrell , Ruth Roland and Ben Bard , Mary Brian , Jackie Coogan , Sally Eilers and Hoot Gibson , Lawrence Tibbett , Sally Blane , Wheeler and Woolsey , Joseph Schildkraut , and Charlie Chaplin with his girlfriend Georgia Hale . A program with leather cover

2842-816: The structural loads on the wing. The configuration was first developed during World War II by Richard Vogt and George Haag at Blohm & Voss . The Skoda-Kauba SL6 tested the proposed control system in 1944 and, following several design proposals, an order was received for the Blohm & Voss P 215 just weeks before the war ended. The outboard tail reappeared on the Scaled Composites SpaceShipOne in 2003 and SpaceShipTwo in 2010. A tailless aircraft (often tail-less ) traditionally has all its horizontal control surfaces on its main wing surface. It has no horizontal stabiliser  – either tailplane or canard foreplane (nor does it have

2900-464: The stunts for the dogfighting scenes. When Paul Mantz , the principal stunt pilot, informed Hughes that a stunt in the final scene was too dangerous, Hughes piloted the aircraft himself, but crashed; he suffered a skull fracture and had to undergo facial surgery as well. Three stunt pilots and a mechanic died in accidents during filming. Most of the footage is black-and-white , but there are several one-color-tinted scenes for dramatic effect, such as

2958-579: The suit. The film was widely reported as being one of the most expensive films ever made, by contemporary sources, with a reputed budget of $ 4 million. However, this is a myth created by Hughes to publicise the film, and the accounts for Hell's Angels reveal that it in fact cost only $ 2.8 million, considerably less than the $ 4 million cost of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ , released three years earlier. Hell's Angels received its premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on May 27, 1930. All

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3016-481: The supposedly demure Helen, but Monte is a womanizer. Their German friend and fellow University of Oxford student Karl is against the idea of having to fight England if another war breaks out. Meanwhile, in Munich, the oblivious Monte is caught in the arms of a woman by her German officer husband, who insists upon a duel the next morning. Monte flees that night. When Roy is mistaken for his brother, he goes ahead with

3074-522: The talking sequences; it was Whale's film debut, and arguably prepared him for the later success he would have with the feature version of Journey's End , Waterloo Bridge , and, most famously, the 1931 version of Frankenstein . Unhappy with the script, Whale brought in Joseph Moncure March to re-write it. Hughes later gave March the Luger pistol used in the famous execution scene near

3132-433: Was designed for the premiere by famed aviation illustrator Clayton Knight . Reviews were universal in acclaim for the flying scenes but the mundane plot and maudlin characterizations were also noted. The Hell's Angels screening revealed many traits of pre-code Hollywood . In addition to some fairly frank sexuality, there was a surprising amount of adult language (for the time) during the final dogfight sequence, e.g. "son of

3190-412: Was in conflict over directing roles before hiring a more pliable director, Edmund Goulding , but took over the directing reins when it came to the frenetic aerial battle scenes. The advent of the sound motion picture came with the arrival of The Jazz Singer , which premiered several weeks before the start of Hell's Angels principal photography. This left the public clamoring for talking pictures and

3248-553: Was released through United Artists . It follows two dissimilar brothers, both members of the British Royal Flying Corps during the First World War . The film was originally shot as a silent film . The Jazz Singer , which ushered in the sound era , premiered several weeks before the start of principal photography for Hell's Angels and left the public clamoring for talking pictures. A year and

3306-498: Was tested in the California Institute of Technology wind tunnel, revealing a speed potential of 365 mph (587 km/h). Streamlining was a paramount design criterion, resulting in what has been retroactively described as "one of the cleanest and most elegant aircraft designs ever built." Many groundbreaking technologies were developed during construction, including individually machined flush rivets that left

3364-416: Was the fitting of a new set of wings of increased span, giving it a lower wing loading . On January 19, 1937, a year and a half after setting the landplane speed record in the H-1, Hughes broke his own transcontinental speed record by flying non-stop from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds, smashing the previous time of 9 hours, 27 minutes by two hours. His average speed over

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