On display in the Golden Age of Flight Hall at NASM, Washington, D.C. On Sept. 13, 1935, Howard Hughes set a new world speed record by flying the H-1 at 567 km/h. On Jan. 19, 1937 he broke the transcontinental US speed record with an incredible avg. speed of 535 km/h. Hughes used low aspect ratio wings and moderate aspect ratio wings respectively for each record. Outstanding design features included the close fitting bell-shaped engine cowling, retractable landing gear and flush rivets to reduce drag.

Crashed with the death of the pilot/owner James Wright on August 4, 2003 in Wyoming. The probable cause of the accident was the in-flight loss of a propeller counterweight, followed by the pilots loss of aircraft control during a forced landing attempt and subsequent inadvertent stall/spin to the ground.

Flown - and crash-landed - by Howard Hughes himself, his H-1 took the world speed record for landplanes to 567 km/h (352 mph) on 13 September 1935. Oddly the Macchi MC.72 floatplane was very much faster at 709 km/h (441 mph). Photo by: John Underwood / Glendale Public Library