Hughes Racer Replica Lost

It would appear that the wonderful Hughes Racer Replica has been lost
in a crash in Yellowstone Park.

My prayers go out to everyone involved with this project. Jim Wright
was one of the nicest people I've ever met.

Wayne Sagar
All Aviation FlightLine OnLine
http://www.aafo.com/

It would appear that the wonderful Hughes Racer Replica has been lost
in a crash in Yellowstone Park.

My prayers go out to everyone involved with this project. Jim Wright
was one of the nicest people I've ever met.

And my prayers as well. Any site with information?

John Dupre'

damn.

http://www.trib.com/AP/wire_detail.php?wire_num=113724

"James Wright, 53, of Cottage Grove, Ore., died when the plane, a
replica of the Hughes H-1, crashed about 6:30 p.m. Monday in Midway
Geyser Basin about five miles north of Old Faithful, park officials
said.
....
The plane approached from the west about treetop level just south of
the basin parking area, officials said. It apparently struck on the
west side of the Firehole River and came to rest on the east near the
main park road, which was closed for about five hours after the crash.

The airplane burst into flame upon impact, but the fire was quickly
extinguished by park staff."


Sounds like an attemped forced landing on the riverbank? Anyone
familiar with the area? The reporter clearly has no clue about
controllable-pitch props:


"Wright, who had been flying planes for 30 years, stopped in Gillette
to refuel about 90 minutes before the crash.

''The air's thin enough here that the propeller gets stuck in low
gear,'' he told The Gillette News-Record. ''I'm just trying to get
home.''

Wright had been having problems switching gears as he flew over
northeastern Wyoming but had planned to stop in Gillette to refuel
anyway, the newspaper reported.

Shortly before flying out of Gillette-Campbell County Airport, he said
he was going to attempt to take off in second gear. Whether gear
problems were responsible for the crash is unclear. The FAA said the
cause is not known."

"Corrie" wrote in message
om...
damn.

http://www.trib.com/AP/wire_detail.php?wire_num=113724

"James Wright, 53, of Cottage Grove, Ore., died when the plane, a
replica of the Hughes H-1, crashed about 6:30 p.m. Monday in Midway
Geyser Basin about five miles north of Old Faithful, park officials
said.
...
The plane approached from the west about treetop level just south of
the basin parking area, officials said. It apparently struck on the
west side of the Firehole River and came to rest on the east near the
main park road, which was closed for about five hours after the crash.

The airplane burst into flame upon impact, but the fire was quickly
extinguished by park staff."


Sounds like an attemped forced landing on the riverbank? Anyone
familiar with the area? The reporter clearly has no clue about
controllable-pitch props:


Per the article in Air & Space, that airplane had a counterweighted prop
that cycled automatically between high and low pitch. They had trouble with
the pitch change mechanism during early flights, but made modifications that
supposedly corrected the problem. The first gear/second gear analogy
isn't exactly right, but isn't that far off the mark...

KB

Per the article in Air & Space, that airplane had a counterweighted prop
that cycled automatically between high and low pitch. They had trouble with
the pitch change mechanism during early flights, but made modifications that
supposedly corrected the problem. The first gear/second gear analogy
isn't exactly right, but isn't that far off the mark...


Supposedly Jim Wright himself made the comments about the "gears" so as
to convey the sense of the thing to the general public...

Sure was a stunning, stunning machine. Wish I'd taken the time to
realllly look at it...

Ed Wischmeyer

Ed Wischmeyer wrote in message ...

Sure was a stunning, stunning machine. Wish I'd taken the time to
realllly look at it...

Ed Wischmeyer

I sincerely hope that this does not come off as a "self serving"
response to this message. Jim Wright gave one struggling free-lance
photographer the break of a lifetime when he pulled the hinge pin from
his own Bonanza so that we could remove the left rear window and get a
clear (nothing but air between us) air to air session of him in the
airplane last year. It was the first "commercial grade" air to air
that had been shot of the airplane and because of it, I moved several
"grades" up the ladder of those of us who try our asses off to "shoot
airplanes for a living"... I was published in several national "ink
and paper" glossies and a couple of "tabloid" publications for the
first time..

This was a WONDERFUL man Jim Wright, he had a dream, the resources to
achieve that dream and he DID IT!

But it didn't go to his head!

I want EVERYONE to see his dream as many times as they can, as often
as they can!

http://www.aafo.com/racing/history/h...s_air_show.htm

A rather longish web address, but it's to the beginning of a "photo
essay" of the airplane that I took last year down in Cottage Grove.

There are more images, including desktop wallpaper images available at
http://www.aafo.com/gallery/08-07-03.html and
http://www.aafo.com/gallery/12-09-02.htm

Feel free to download them and do whatever you will with them... just
REMEMBER Jim Wright and the WONDERFUL airplane that he and his friends
and associates brought to life for us!

I'm toasting a bottle of fine wine to my lost friend this evening, so
if this is a bit "mushy" so be it...

This was a wonderful human being who had this dream, shared it with
his friends and with whom, brought it to reality... through them we
saw and heard history fly again!

I simply can't belive he's gone and with him, his dream...

He will live on, forever, for sure, much will be written about the
airplane and the man, we'll always have the images.. but nothing will
replace the smile of this person.. The soft gentle mannerisim of this
man..

DAMN!

I sell prints of this airplane to suppliment my retirement income but
if anyone wants one and can not afford my prices, which I've tried to
set as reasonable as possible.. email me, my address is all over the
site in the links... I want this man and his airplane to be on as many
walls and computers as can be possible.. we'll work something out if
you want a print and can't afford it!

Jim Wright was just one of the most special people I've ever known, he
created a dream, he brought Howard Hughes and his first airplane back
to life for a brief moment in time.

Now they can both talk about it, and someday, we can all talk about it
with them..

Light a candle... don't forget this man and his flying dream that
became a reality!

Blue Skies Forever Jim Wright!

Wayne Sagar
All Aviation FlightLine OnLine
http://www.aafo.com/

(Wayne Sagar) wrote
Light a candle... don't forget this man and his flying dream that
became a reality!

Blue Skies Forever Jim Wright!

Wayne Sagar
All Aviation FlightLine OnLine
http://www.aafo.com/

Hey Wayne,

Thank Goodness you took some good quality color shots of the fine man
and his amazing machine before they were lost to the aviation world.
All that existed before was grainy newsreel type stuff from the 30's.
My favorite shot from the 30's was Hughes posing by the tail in front
of the hangar in Burbank. I was bummed out all day after hearing
about the crash of the replica.

The HR-1 (or H-1?) was the bird Howard drilled out all the surface
rivets (at huge expense) when he learned about flush rivet technology
and made his guys start over. As I recall, he crashed the bird in the
LA area when he ran out of fuel after a record attempt. Was that the
HR-1? (H-1?)can't remember now. Anyway he never fully recovered from
his injuries. What an extreme machine. I was hoping to see it at an
airshow sometime. dang.

Wayne, could you mention some of the prices here for RAH? (a small
transgression.) If a netcop or troll complains about it we will start
a friendly little thread for them.

Take care buddy,

pacplyer

(pac plyer) wrote in message om...

Thank Goodness you took some good quality color shots of the fine man
and his amazing machine before they were lost to the aviation world.
All that existed before was grainy newsreel type stuff from the 30's.
My favorite shot from the 30's was Hughes posing by the tail in front
of the hangar in Burbank. I was bummed out all day after hearing
about the crash of the replica.

It is truly a sad loss. Jim redid that pose for me down in Cottage
Grove last year. Unfortunately, the light was really bad and my flash
was not strong enough to compensate.

As I recall, he crashed the bird in the
LA area when he ran out of fuel after a record attempt. Was that the
HR-1? (H-1?)can't remember now. Anyway he never fully recovered from
his injuries.

Actually the crash that he was seriously injured in was just after
WWII (I believe) and was in an experimental design, similar in layout
to, but much larger than, the P-38. It had twin contra rotating props
on both sides and, if I'm not wrong, one set of props went flat, or
both did.. Anyway, that was the bird that *almost* killed him.

Wayne, could you mention some of the prices here for RAH? (a small
transgression.) If a netcop or troll complains about it we will start
a friendly little thread for them.

Gosh, I'm already feeling bad about my transgression of last night
(amazing what a bottle of wine will do to a guy) in promoting the
prints. I seriously do want to see the airplane never forgotten.. I've
been selling 8x10 for $25. and 13x19 for $35. although, I've only sold
one 13x19 and no 8x10s of this particular set.

That really does barely cover my printing and shipping costs with a
bit left over. And as always, the desktop wallpaper images are
downloadable for free.

I'm sure I've just stepped into a pool of no return though, if so,
please forgive the transgression... I'm not in the mood to be flamed.

I received this message earlier today from Dennis Parker at Wright
Machine Tool. It is from a family who witnessed Jim's last moments
with his airplane.

It all becomes so clear... Jim Wright, a fantastic man to the very
end.

**Begin Quoted Message**

Dear Mr. Wright’s family,

Please accept our condolence. Our thoughts and hearts are with your
family. Let us introduce ourselves first. On August 4, 2003 at around
6:30 p.m., my family was visiting the Midway geyser (about 3 or 4
miles north of the Old faithful). We were on the boardwalk of the
southern edge of the hot springs.

The following are words from each member of my family:

Ning’s own words:
I was near the west side bench. My wife, Mei-Ling, was about 150 feet
away. We were shooting pictures of each other (I used a camcorder and
she used a camera). All of a sudden, a person near me yelled:
“Look at that plane.” I turned my camcorder toward the
south sky and saw a blue-yellow plane coming from the south and
heading straight to the north. I also heard several loud sounds. I am
not a pilot. The best way I can describe the sound is – it
rumbled like an old car back firing continuously for about 2-3
seconds. I did NOT hear any regular airplane buzzing sound before I
(and other people near me) noticed this approaching airplane. I also
didn’t hear any buzzing sound after the rumbling sounds
described before. It is worthwhile to mention that the plane was
heading directly toward my wife and several other people on the
boardwalk. The plane was about 500 feet away from her with a height of
300 to 400 feet. She and several other people were directly under the
flight path. The next thing I observed was that the plane all of a
sudden veered to its right (heading toward east). After 2 or 3 more
seconds, I saw a huge explosion coming from the creek next to the main
road.

Right after the explosion, my family and another family next to us
concluded that the pilot of the plane purposely steered the plane away
from its original flight path to spare the lives of the people on the
ground.

Ian’s own words (Ian is 12 years old)
I was also at the same bench my dad and brother was near. My mom was
taking my picture when suddenly; someone yelled “Look at that
plane.” I looked up and saw the plane sort of swaying and
tilting. I knew that it would crash, but I didn’t know how
severe it would be. Then, the plane started to swerve away from the
boardwalk, flipped perpendicular to the ground, and crashed into a
small hill near the river wing first. Later, my family figured that
the pilot swerved away so that he would not endanger the lives of the
people on the ground which also included my mom.

Ethan’s own words (Ethan is 9 years old)
First I did not see or hear the plane. Then, somebody yelled
“Look at that plane.” I turned around and saw the plane
heading toward us. It was wobbling a little bit. I first thought it
was doing a stunt or something. But then I realized it was going to
land or crash toward us. But the plane suddenly swerved out of the way
and it suddenly dropped down and crashed. A big explosion followed
afterward.

Mei-Ling’s own words:
It was a beautiful Monday afternoon at Midway geyser. The sky was
clear and the sunset was beautiful at the geyser area. It was a best
pictorial moment. I was standing at the center of the south boardwalk
, using telephoto lens of 35mm camera and taking pictures of my
family, who were about 100 feet away from me (at the west side of the
geyser area). Then I heard a guy near me yelled “look at that
plane, it is acting weird”. Then I turned around looked toward
south (I did not hear any engine sound before this moment), I saw an
old style airplane heading toward me. It was wobbling, my first
thought was “This guy is doing the stunt, but it’s too low
to do a stunt!” Then my second thought was “if he keeps
flying toward me, I better duck down”, at that moment, the plane
suddenly pull to its right (which is toward east). My thought was
“Oh , no! It is going to crush!” So I started taking
pictures of the plane. Because of low camera speed, I could only take
about 1 to 2 pictures before it crushed. After the plane crushed, it
created a huge boom and explosion with fire and a large black cloud.
At that moment, I realized that it was impossible for someone to
survive this crush. And my though was this pilot probably tried to
land on this flat field of the geyser area, as he approached, he
realized there were about 20 plus people on the ground. And at the
final moment he decided to change course and avoid those people on the
ground. As I made witness statement to Ranger Mr. Bob Seibert,
I’ve learned that for this type of plane, in the case of
emergency landing, it won’t glide down to the ground, instead,
at certain point, it will drop from the air. Finally, I realized Mr.
Wright really spared the lives of the people on the ground. With
almost full tank of fuel, I can’t image how many people will be
hurt if he decided to go ahead and took that chance to land on the
geyser area. It must be really hard for him to make the decision at
that final moment. I am writing this letter to let you know how an
honorable man he was. Our family is very grateful for his action. I
could only pray that this letter would bring a peace of mind to your
family.

Sincerely,

The **name omitted** family:

**End Quoted Message**


Wayne Sagar
All Aviation FlightLine OnLine
http://www.aafo.com/

(Wayne Sagar) wrote:


[A witness wrote,]

Finally, I realized Mr.
Wright really spared the lives of the people on the ground. With
almost full tank of fuel, I can't image how many people will be
hurt if he decided to go ahead and took that chance to land on the
geyser area. It must be really hard for him to make the decision at
that final moment. I am writing this letter to let you know how an
honorable man he was. Our family is very grateful for his action. I
could only pray that this letter would bring a peace of mind to your
family.

Clearly, Jim Wright was a man of true class to the very end.

David O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com

In rememberance of Jim Wright

http://www.wrightools.com/hughes/

Larry