The exact moment the giant flying boat leaves the surface is not captured very well; a little blurry...
...but considering the conditions, I have to give the cameraman "props".
I have heard "33 feet" and "70 feet" claimed for the maximum height reached by Hercules in its all-too-brief service lifetime,
but this is as high as she gets in this clip: more like 33 than 70.
Of course, the static port may have been at 70 feet; the HK1 is huge !!!
But look at her!! Over 1/4 million pounds (GTW or empty? I don't know), most of it wood and canvas. The great zeppelins of the previous decade probably each contained more metal then the HK1.
She flew about a mile, at about 80mph.
If I had a time machine, putting myself somewhere inside that majestic beauty during that minute of triumph would be high on my list of things to do. Preferably near a window.
The left wing droops a bit as he tries to get her to settle...
And this being the first time a single human (with a nonpilot engineer in the right seat, BTW) has held the reins of this leviathan in flight, Hughes can be given some slack for overcompensating a bit in recovering... she settles on leaning to the right.
I've heard that Hughes was vague to the press (and the authorities, I'd imagine) about why he took off without permission, but I have also heard that he turned to the man sitting next to him and said he was "just having a funny".
I think he meant to do it, and it was worth all the risk. Howward Hughes seemed to spend a lot of his life making up for bitter disappointments with sweet satisfaction, and did it on a grand scale, with real style. He probably just added "prove the HK1 can fly, leave it ready to fly, but never fly it again or sell it" on his list, and having checked it off, that was that.
Hughes could now add "sole pilot of the largest aircraft ever flown" to the numerous feathers in his cap.
Look at those teensy- looking doors- each one is as tall as a man!!
This last shot seems to show the HK-1 begging for a chance to try for Hawaii, to prove herself. But it would never happen, and probaly won't. she's a display piece now. It's kind of a cruel slight to the spirit of a machine like this; it makes me a little angry.
Hughes put her aside after this flight; I don't know if anyone ever bid on it or duplicates, but it wouldn't surprise me if there were offers and he refused.
Hughes was a true maverick and not one to back down. He kept her in ready-to-fly condition (monthly run-ups), at considerable expense, until his death in 1976... but she never flew again.
She was on display next to the Queen Mary in California until 1982, when she was disassembled and shipped to the Evergreen Aviation Educational Center in McMinnville, Oregon.
One of these days I must go up there and pay my respects.
