I’m there 😎

TNZ

Far out !!!, 😮

First I’ve ever heard of that….Surely the Tiger’s would be sitting ducks to ground fire…as they’re not the fastest bird in the world…

That’s Kiwi enginuity coming through, but still pretty radical !!

Cheers
TNZ

almost forgot, thanks for the H-1 pics, jetman-2. 🙂

Very nice !!!!

TNZ

As a point of interest, was the Stuka an easy aircraft to fly (compared to a FW.190/bf-109) ?

Cheers
TNZ

Pardon my ignorance, but in the movie, the Hughes H-1’s wingspan looked rather short and stumpy in comparison to that shot. Mind you, viewing from the front, I imagine that big front end could make the wing look shorter…

Well funny you should ask that, Daz….
I’ve been doing some research into the H-1,(rapidly becoming a real fav of mine now)
Hughes built two wings for it.
One was 25ft and the other 32ft.
The original speed attempt was done on the short wing and after that Hughes modified it for a longer wing in the quest for added performance (and 30 gals more fuel capacity !!) Also it was to provide the space to install a hydraulically actuated landing gear system, the first time ever used in aviation.
Quoted from the H-1 forum – “In refering to the H-1, and the actions that they took after the forced landing, Howard said, “Then we rebuilt it and put a larger wing on it, and with that same airplane I made the 7.55 hour flight to New York with the larger wing that contained more fuel, and did not really hurt the speed appreciably, because with a larger wing, it operated at a lower angle of attact and at a high altitude it was really just as fast as the first version with the small wing.”

The replica has the longer wing for more practicality.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Chris
(TNZ)

Not sure, but http://www.1000aircraftphotos.com brings up another twin-tail Mars.

This is from :http://www.vectorsite.net/avmars.html

The first JRM-1, named the “Hawaii Mars”, was completed in June 1945. The Hawaii Mars had the same wing and float structure as the Old Lady, but was otherwise extensively redesigned. The powerplants were upgraded to 1,790 kW (2,400 HP) Wright R-3350-8 Duplex Cyclone engines; the twin-tail was replaced by a tall single vertical tail; the fuselage was extended by 1.82 meters (6 feet); large cargo doors with electric hoists were installed under the wings with smaller cargo doors placed farther aft; and the internal layout was optimized for cargo and transport operations, with fewer internal bulkheads.

Cheers
TNZ