Originally Posted by
treadigraph
Hinton had planned to go for a class brakes off to climb record in it - the contra props eliminated torque meaning he could get off the ground quickly; however some smart-ass* set the record beyond anything the Spitfire could achieve!
*Can't remember who or what, memory says it was an aerobatic type on the US airshow circuit around 2000...
Can be tricky though.
During the maiden flight of the Hughes XF11 flown by himself, the rear prop of the right hand engine went into reverse due to a hydraulic leak and the aircraft crashed.