A Second Chance For Americans To Relive The Past
And See History Being Made in a Hughes H-1 design!

As of today, August 24, 2002, Jim Wright has agreed to demonstrate the airplane at the Nellis AFB "Aviation Nation" Air Show, scheduled for October 5-6, 2002, at the US Air Force Base just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada.

This is a very late development – coming at a time when this story goes to press –however, we do know that the exact appearance schedule is currently being worked out between World of Wings Media Productions**, which is representing "Aviation Nation" for Wright’s appearance in the H-1, and also with Jim Wright himself, who will fly the remarkable 1930s-era racer during the show.

At present, expectations are that Wright will be attempting to break Howard Hughes own record of 352.322 miles per hour, which Hughes set in the original Hughes H-1 aircraft on September 13, 1935, over a 3 km, specially instrumented course, at Santa Ana, California.

During that 1935 speed run, the original H-1 racer featured two separate sets of wings, including one, low-aspect ratio set – which were shorter than the second pair – and were specifically utilized in the 1935 3-km speed run. The original H-1 also used the second set of longer, moderate-aspect ratio wings, in pursuit of additional records. The larger set of wings gave the aircraft a total wingspan of 31 feet 9 inches (9.67 m). In addition, the H-1 also featured a fuselage length of 27 feet (8.23 m); and the aircraft’s weighed in at 5,500 pounds (2,495 kg).

The new land plane speed record attempt will cover a similar distance to that of the original H-1 piloted by Hughes, and is being "fully sponsored by WoW," according to Bob Avery, of World of Wings (WoW), the Promotion Agent of Record for Aviation Nation. This record attempt, as of this writing, would be a demonstration only and not an officially sanctioned record attempt. (editor's note: we regret that the original version of this story stated that an official record attempt would be made at the Nellis Show. This information was incorrectly added to our original "work in progress" on this report and was not cut from the final version as was planned. At this time, details of the exact performance schedule and display program are being developed.)