Hughes Hercules out of ground effect?

[stepwilk]

We all know the Hughes Hercules flew for a mile or so in ground effect, but would anybody care to hazard an opinion--ideally supported by some kind of evidence--as to whether it could actually have flown like a real airplane?

[SpringHeeledJack]

Of course, i saw it being piloted by Leonardo Di Capucchino in the Hollyweird film about Howard Hughes himself! :rolleyes:;) My uninformed opinion is that taking into account it's condition/performance on the day of the test flight, is that it wouldn't have made much progress vertically due to being underpowered for it's size and with a representative typical payload it wouldn't have even got into ground effect.

A great idea, but the practicalities of finding a stretch of water smooth enough and long enough to allow operations would always have been a challenge.



SHJ

[clunckdriver]

Yes it would have flown as you say "Like a real airplane", in fact HH pulled the power way back to keep it in "T" effect, had he not done this it would have gone very fast straight and level or had to climb, belive me, to get a hull that size out of the water, even at the light weight on that day the aircraft must have had a pretty good power/weight ratio. The man was a genius, a bit bonkers perhaps but a genius non the less, ask anyone who used his early fire controll systems during the Cold War.

[411A]

...ideally supported by some kind of evidence--as to whether it could actually have flown like a real airplane?

The answer is yes, with stipulations.

1. The airplane was underpowered for the weights it was designed to carry.

2. During the one and only flight, it was felt/observed that the tail structure was twisting terribly, and Hughes mentioned to the designers...'that airplane will never fly again.'

How do I know?
My uncle worked on the project at Hughes Aircraft....at the time.