#TBT Flight of our 1/2 scale H-1 Racer

6 years ago today, we were flying our 1/2 scale Hughes H-1 Racer for the AMA's 75th Anniversary Event in Muncie, Indiana. What a day! Thanks to Steve Carey for the cool video! #aviation #design #technology #carbonfiber #AMA #anniversary #sucessfullflights #videooftheday #awesome #AmericanMuscle #AllAmericanAviators

H-1 Engine

5 cylinder, 20HP, radial engine used in the Aero Telemetry 1/2 scale 118lb Hughes H-1 Racer. #Aviation #Hughes #H1Racer #Avgeeks

San Diego Air and Space Museum Visit

A great visit with the staff and volunteers of the San Diego Air & Space Museum Restoration Shop! What an amazing group of individuals. They really take pride in their work!
Thank you for taking the time to share your stories. ‪#‎aviation‬ ‪#‎history‬ ‪#‎veterans‬ ‪#‎avgeeks‬ ‪#‎SDASM‬

Hollywood Takes to the Air Event

Aero Telemetry was honored to have their Hughes H-1 Racer on display in the front lobby of The Academy's Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood two weeks ago. The 4 night event was a celebration of Aviation and Cinema.  The first night was a presentation given by Oscar winners Craig Barron and Ben Burtt called The Illusions of Flight: Behind the Scenes of Hollywood's Aviation Classics.  For those in attendence it was a packed house and an amazing presentation!

Below are some pictures of our H-1 Racer display.

Aero Telemetry's Hughes H-1 Racer

Great Article as featured in FLY RC MAGAZINE:

AERO TELEMETRY’S HUGHES H-1 RACER      By Tom Atwood

An extraordinary crew works at Aero Telemetry Corporation. Founded by Joe Bok, the Aero Telemetry Corporation (ATC) has been providing airborne electronics and custom built unmanned air vehicle (UAV) systems to the military since the early 1990s. Many of our readers also know that this remarkable company specializes in scale aircraft for movies and in UAV’s. Remember the movie, The Aviator? Joe's team provided 11 different models for the production. Notably, the giant scale Hughes XF-11 (30-foot wingspan), H-4 Hercules (Spruce Goose), and Hughes H-1 Racer were all flown safely and successfully.  As noted at the company's website, these models “are still considered to be some of the largest flyable scale airplanes ever built for use in a movie. Long hours of hard work, perseverance, and technical know-how by the Aero Telemetry team made these extraordinary airplanes possible.”

But many may not know the diverse additional areas of expertise Aero Telemetry has expanded into over the last decade, building on robust project successes in military based UAV programs. One of the coolest projects in aerospace today is the Boeing X-48 Blended Wing Body aircraft or BWB. Aero Telemetry was contracted by The Boeing Company to build the front landing gear for the X-48 blended wing body unmanned air vehicle. “The design and fabrication of the landing gear required the Aero Telemetry team to perform dynamic load testing with data acquisition sensors to match deceleration rates to acceptable airframe load limits.”

            

Aero Telemetry also specializes in vintage engine restorations. Joe Bok and his team took great pride in restoring an Allison V-1710-27 engine. That engine was once a starboard engine mount on a Lockheed P-39 Lightning during WWII. It was shipped back to the United States for overhaul in late 1943. It is an incredible piece of American history that has survived the years to be brought back to life once again by the ATC team—see the projects pages at www.aerotelemetry.com  for more on this and the other diverse programs at ATC. Their technology is also used at academic institutions and in one project, ATC designed a package to detect the impact energy of football helmets, while in use, on the playing field.

H1 RACER

As the AMA planned its 75^th anniversary celebration, which will be held in Muncie this July, it inquired with Joe whether ATC might do something special for the gala event. Joe’s team came up with a 50 percent scale H-1 Racer. The H-1 in The Aviator, designed based on countless photos of the original at the Smithsonian, weighed 450 pounds. The new model looked to weigh in at 225 pounds ready to fly. “Too heavy,” said the AMA. It would have to top out at 125 pounds to be legal at the event. Joe’s indefatigable team went back to the drawing board—a 3^rd plane had to be designed and built!
 

 And true to form, ATC developed new technology. Precisely engineered resin-infused carbon fiber cloth would comprise the new H-1’s skin. This will be the largest and perhaps the most sophisticated 50 percent scale model in the world, with custom engineered retracts and sophisticated electronic control systems. The 5-cylinder, 4-stroke radial initially envisioned for the project may have to be replaced with a lighter mill. But Joe, an aerospace engineer with a can-do attitude, is not fazed. He says this has been a useful challenge that has expanded ATC’s markets. 

We applaud this magnificent project, and also the contributions of the ATC team in other arenas. Joe and his people are making a difference by providing electronic systems to the military, and for this reason this aerospace group also wears a badge of honor.


Photos by Aero Telemetry

New H-1 Racer Website

Check out this new website about the Hughes H-1 Racer.
http://www.h1racer.com/

10 Year Anniversary H-1 Racer - Mystery Mesa

10th Anniversary fo the Aero Telemetry's H-1 Racer flight at Mystery Mesa for the Academy Award winning film The Aviator.  11-17-13

10 Year Anniversary H-1 Racer - El Mirage

Making aviation history with our H-1 Racer built for the movie The Aviator. 10 Year anniversary of the first flight at El Mirage Dry Lake Bed. 11-4-13

Unique Model Aviation Covers

The AMA included Aero Telemetry's cover as one of the Top Ten Unique Model Aviation Covers. You can view the full list here. http://amablog.modelaircraft.org/modelaviation/2013/10/07/10-unique-model-aviation-covers/

July 2005

Martin Scorsese utilized model airplanes to achieve realistic flight scenes for his hit movie The Aviator. He contracted Aero Telemetry—a company owned by AMA member Joe Bock—to design, construct, and operate models of Howard Hughes’ airplanes on camera. This issue contains the first of three articles about how Joe and his crew successfully completed the project.
On the cover, Joe and fellow crew member John Keefe load up the Hughes H-1 racer after its record-setting flights during filming for the movie.

Read the full issue at https://library.modelaviation.com/ma/2005/7/1

The Old & The New: The Hughes H-1 Racer

The old: The Hughes H-1 Racer designed by Aero Telemetry for the film The Aviator on it's test flight in 2003 and weighing in at approximately 350lbs.

The new: The redesigned H-1 Racer built from composite materials and carbon fiber by Aero Telemetry weighed in at 122lbs. Flown July 2011.

Aviator H-1 Racer

The H-1B Racer

Howard Hughes built the H1-B Racer in 1935 solely to become the fastest airplane in the world. His first attempt resulted in a world record speed of 352 mph.

Originally, “The Aviator” planned on using a full-scale replica of the H-1B. Before it was filmed, however, the pilot and plane were tragically lost while flying back from an air-show. The Aero Telemetry team was already involved with the design of two of the worlds largest flying scale aircraft, the Hughes XF-11 and H-4.

The compressed time schedule necessitated the use of many carbon fiber composite structures and parts for the H-1. In addition, the engine would have to be powerful enough to propel the heavy airplane to speeds fast enough to simulate the world record speed set by the real Hughes H-1 Racer. The airplane required that the team design and manufacture from scratch a miniature high-pressure hydraulic system to actuate the retractable landing gear. In addition, we employed the use of much of our own radio electronics equipment for the command and control systems on the airplane.

DIMENSIONS

WINGSPAN: approximately 16 feet

LENGTH: approximately 16 feet

WEIGHT: approximately 350lbs

ENGINE: 2-cylinder, 2-stroke, modified to 360cc high compression, gear reduction

PROPELLER: 3-blade, carbon fiber adjustable pitch 48 diameter

 

ACTING ABILITY

The H1-B Racer was flown and filmed to simulate the World Speed Record attempt that Howard Hughes had made in 1935 at Santa Ana, California. For the film sequences of Hughes’ record attempt, the Aero Telemetry team tried to recreate something totally amazing.  The Aero Telemetry H1 Racer provided the cameras and all those who witnessed the flights with some very realistic and believable flight sequences.