Howard Hughes and the 262

[Enemy Ace]

I saw mentioned on the FHC post that Howard Hughes once owned the POF Me 262. I have seen this mentioned briefly elsewhere but there are never any details. Does anybody know anything about Mr. Hughes's ownership of the airplane? did it fly under his ownership? did he ever fly it? Was it studied by Hughes aerospace companies for R&D or did it just sit in a hangar or on a ramp somewhere?
I have also never seen a photo of the plane when it was under his ownership.
Can anybody spread any light on this?? Any good stories?

[RickH]

I remember reading that Hughes intended to use it in one of the post war long distance races but the military frowned on it and the idea was dropped.

[RandolphB]

Does POF still own it? I haven't seen it there in a few years....

[Jack Cook]

They sold it to FHC and few years ago.
They hid it in our hanger for a while before sneeking off in the middle of the night

[The Inspector]

His intent was to run it against the current USAF jets @ CVG in 1947 (P-80's) but the USAF put the kibosh on it because the 262 was noticeably faster than the P-80's. I don't believe he ever flew it, but with him you never know, a long time friend who worked @ Cal Airmotive told me that Hughes who had his own B-23 would want to go flying, but his airplane was apart for something or other so he'd just have them roll out REXALL Drugs' B-23 and take it, then when the wheels from REXALL needed to go somewhere their chief pilot would have to ask CAL AIRMOTIVE 'so where did Howard say he was headed?' and then get on the phone long distance in the 1950's, and call every airport in the area where Hughes was supposed to be until it was located then have to fly to Mule Nostril or wherever and retrieve the airplane and ferry it back to L.A. Hughes once borrowed an aquaintences brand new OLDSMOBILE and drove off with it, parked it somewhere and got on an airplane to go someplace else, that OLDs could still be sitting there.

[Chappie]

So the FHC 262 is an original aircraft? There been so much publicity about the replica 262s I did not know there were originals out there that could be made airworthy. It can be made airworthy, no?


Chappie

[Steve Nelson]

I've heard that FHC plans to not only restore the aircraft to flying condition, but rebuild the original Jumo engines using modern materials (the real weakness in the Jumos was the fact that the metallurgy hadn't caught up to the design, and quality control in late-war Germany was next to non-existent.)

SN

[lmritger]

I've heard that FHC plans to not only restore the aircraft to flying condition, but rebuild the original Jumo engines using modern materials (the real weakness in the Jumos was the fact that the metallurgy hadn't caught up to the design, and quality control in late-war Germany was next to non-existent.)

SN

As a technological exercise, I think this will be absolutely fascinating... I didn't realize they were going to physically recreate the Jumos in modern materials. That's actually pretty brilliant, and if successful, will give us a very good look at the TRUE performance capability of that design. Who knows what the plane would be capable of if all the tolerances in the engines actually matched and you didn't have blade creep that locked up your engine after 10 hours? I really hope they manage to pull this off.

I also will be very interested to learn the actual identity of this airframe; last I heard, no one was 100% certain which WNr it was. I can't recall if it was this one or the NMUSAF one which *might* be "yellow 5" of KG(J) 6, which originally sported a red and black checkered band around the aft fuselage- whatever the case, the NMUSAF bird could stand to be in it's original colors whatever they are, but I sincerely doubt they'd do it considering how they screwed up their genuine II./JG 52 Bf 109G-10. (The director wouldn't even listen to the foremost American authority on the 109, John Beaman, who tried to get them NOT to put it in a JG 300 scheme but Mr. Director wanted the plane in a "scheme representative of the units which faced the 8th AF" or some such bollocks... nevermind that JG 52 tangled with 15th AF Mustangs more than once, or that the 8th had a couple run-ins with them on shuttle missions.)

Yeah, I know, paint schemes again. Luftwaffe history is what I know best, so bite me.

Lynn

[RickH]

They are not really recreating the Jumos. The turbine frames are original, the compressor section is original, the combustion cans are original. The weak point of the design was the turbine whell. That has been recreated using modern technology with cast blades and they won't be hard riveted into the wheel as the originals. It is a fascinating project !

[The Inspector]

I haven't had any close contact with the 262 project @ KPAE in quite a while, but the plan WAS-once the restoration was completed in England (rivet of the month club)-the airframe was going to be air shipped to Moses Lake, assembled and rigged by STORMBIRDS and flown around the patch one or two circuits, landed, disassembled and trucked to KPAE and re erected for display but never to fly again and FHC WAS going to buy one of the STORMBIRDS repro's (built just across the ramp) for 'Flying Days'-all that may have gone out the window in the interim since there is only one airworthy 262 fuselage left. The always planned to be static airframe went to McMinnville last year, it's beautiful but is absolutely and strictly static (lots of plaster and chicken wire) and would take a true mountain of money to disassemble and make airworthy.

I made a mistake in this post earlier and in the one on the CANCO B-26 in another, Stu worked for AIRRESEARCH @ the time not Cal Airmotive I quizzed him last night and he put me on the straight and narrow overnight in an E mail

[Pat Carry]

So the FHC 262 is an original aircraft? There been so much publicity about the replica 262s I did not know there were originals out there that could be made airworthy. It can be made airworthy, no?


Chappie

It is an original. It joins the examples at the NASM, NMUSAF and the one at the NMNA as the 4 originals in the US.

[51fixer]

Its definitely original.
When I worked at POF I climbed around it on occasion.
What I remember hearing about it was Hughes ended up with as it was a Radar equipped version.
They studied the radar stuff but he traded the Nose for a fighter version when he decided to fly it.
Dunno if it is true.

[lmritger]

Its definitely original.
When I worked at POF I climbed around it on occasion.
What I remember hearing about it was Hughes ended up with as it was a Radar equipped version.
They studied the radar stuff but he traded the Nose for a fighter version when he decided to fly it.
Dunno if it is true.

Actually, you just triggered a memory... he DID swap noses, but I think his was the recce version with the large external fairings covering the cameras. (I know where to go and double check this, and maybe narrow down exactly which bird this is based on that.) Whatever the case, the nose on the aircraft currently actually belongs to WNr 500491, "Yellow 7 + l" of Ofw. Heinz Arnold from 11./JG 7 which is on display at the Smithsonian. When the restorers were trying to get the aircraft done back in the 70s, they approached Ed Maloney about swapping the nose back and he gave'em the Heisman, so the NASM group had to build a nose from scratch. They did a great job, but still, it would've been nice to have the PROPER nose with it.

Thanks for the info on the engines- that makes me a little more nervous than if they were using new cores, but it does still address the main issue with the fans.

Lynn

[The Inspector]

I found some more info about Hughes' airplane in GOOGLE in something called 'WARBIRD RESOURCE GROUP' (??) that has a couple of photos of the airplane and it says the aircraft was identified as FE-4012 and was a photo/recon bird.

[StangStung]

Wow...making new Jumos essentially from scratch...that's cubic dollars cubed right there.