Another Hughes Racer Question

[Eoraptor1]

Does anyone know the critical altitude for the (long-winged) H-1 Racer Howard Hughes flew to set his record transcontinental flight? I'm having trouble finding a definitive answer online. I've seen numbers from 5000 ft to nearly 30,000. It's confusing. 5000 seems very low for a flight where Hughes would have to fly over mountains and above weather, but 30,000 seems more an end-of-WWII number. I would appreciate any and all help on this subject. Many thanks in advance.

JAMES

[joe bob]

I would assume it would be 12k or less since he did not have oxygen. If memory serves his route was south of the Rocky Mountains
I would lean more towards the 5000 number

[Bjoern]

The NY Times has a pretty detailed article on his feat: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0119.html?mcubz=0

It says cruising altitude was mostly 14000 ft.

"Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness" (excerpts on Google Books) says that initial altitude was 15000, then 20000. After his oxygen mask malfunction, he probably dove to 14000 ft, as stated in the Times, and raced eastward at that altitude.

[Eoraptor1]

The NY Times has a pretty detailed article on his feat: http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0119.html?mcubz=0

It says cruising altitude was mostly 14000 ft.

"Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness" (excerpts on Google Books) says that initial altitude was 15000, then 20000. After his oxygen mask malfunction, he probably dove to 14000 ft, as stated in the Times, and raced eastward at that altitude.

You see, this is why I have trouble believing a 5000ft critical altitude. Hughes was doing an average of 322 mph at altitudes between 14000 and 19000 feet. Thank you for the post.

JAMES

[Bjoern]

You see, this is why I have trouble believing a 5000ft critical altitude. Hughes was doing an average of 322 mph at altitudes between 14000 and 19000 feet. Thank you for the post.


You're welcome. The effort paid off for me as well. Some interesting pieces of information out there.

[Eoraptor1]

You're welcome. The effort paid off for me as well. Some interesting pieces of information out there.

Just for the edification of the Sim-Outhouse family, the .pdf Users Manual for the Aerosoft H-1B (which you can download from aerosoft.com) places the maximum altitude for the long-winged racer at 29,700 ft. I don't own this product so I haven't had a look at the airfile's critical altitude. As a practical matter, I can't see anyone getting to half this altitude without a more reliable oxygen system than Hughes was using on his transcontinental flight, but this is the number Aerosoft gives. Thank you again for the link. It answers many of my questions.

JAMES