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Article from the Gillette News-Record
Posted by Michael on Tue Aug 05, 2003 11:27:21 PM
In reply top H-1Crash JIm Wright killed posted by JACK COOK on Tue Aug 05, 2003 06:40:57 PM
Local News - Gillette, Wyoming Tuesday, August 05, 2003
Fatal airplane crash in Yellowstone
An Oregon aircraft enthusiast who had stopped to refuel in Gillette Monday afternoon died an hour after takeoff when his aircraft crashed in Yellowstone National Park about 6:30 p.m.
Jim Wright, 53, of Cottage Grove, Ore., died when his H-1 Hughes racer crashed just north of Old Faithful, according to FAA spokeswoman Polly Baker.
FAA officials don't know why the airplane crashed, but they were en route today to investigate, along with the National Transportation Safety Board.
Wright and his plane had caused a mild sensation at the Gillette-Campbell County Airport when he stopped here with his plane late Monday afternoon.
The plane was the lone reproduction of the H-1 racer, the first plane that aircraft engineering legend Howard Hughes -- best known for his H-4, the Spruce Goose -- designed. Wright, an aviation enthusiast who had been flying planes for 30 years, built his Hughes racer last year. When he touched down in Gillette, Wright was flying home to Cottage Grove, Ore., after displaying the H-1 at the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture 2003 event in Oshkosh, Wis.
"The air's thin enough here that the propeller gets stuck in low gear," told The News-Record on Monday evening about 5 p.m., when he stopped to refuel at the Gillette-Campbell County Airport. "I'm just trying to get home."
Wright had been having problems switching gears as he flew over northeastern Wyoming, but was planning on stopping in Gillette to refuel anyway.
Wright said shortly before takeoff that he was going to attempt to take off in second gear. Whether gear problems were responsible for the crash remains unclear.
Wright was scheduled to appear with the H-1 at the 44th Annual Northwest Antique Airplane Fly-In in Minnville, Ore., on Aug. 15-17. It was one appearance among many on a busy itinerary of air show visits during the summer and fall.
Wright's plane was the only H-1 in existence besides the original, housed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. When Wright decided last year that he wanted to build a reproduction, the museum gave him access to Hughes' plane.
"The director of the Smithsonian told me that if he could have one plane in the Smithsonian, it wouldn't be the Wright (Brothers) flyer," he says. "It would be the Hughes racer."
"Hughes decided in 1934 that he was going to build the world's best airplane, and he did," Wright said in an interview at the airport.
The original plane went on to set the world record for speed -- the H-1 can do 400 mph at maximum altitude -- the following year, and in 1937 completed a flight from Los Angeles to New York.
The H-1 was the last plane built by a private individual to set the world speed record -- every aircraft to hold the honor since was designed by the military.
The construction of the reproduction ultimately took five workers from the Wright Machine Tool Co. -- which Wright owned -- and seven major subcontractors 35,000 collective hours, and cost Wright just shy of $2 million.
When asked the why he wanted to undertake such an eccentric and ambitious project, Wright said, "Because it's the best plane that's ever been built."
Wright's H-1 was a work of art as much as it is an aircraft, with wings painstakingly planed out of mahogany and spruce -- such woods provide a much smoother airfoil than aluminum -- and a fusilage that was as much the product of a sculptor's eye as it was of 90 days of wind tunnel research.
Wright joked about the idea of undertaking such a difficult and expensive project shortly before taking off.
"Yeah, it's real silly," he said, chuckling.
The crash in Yellowstone started a small fire near Midway Geyser Basin, but it was immediately contained by park fire crews.
By CHARLIE HOMANS
News-Record Writer
Nice image of Mr. Wright and the H-1 here: http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/2wygillette/inn_front/photo.jpg
My thoughts are with the family over the tragic loss of such an awesome aircraft and pilot-- blue skies!
Michael