Howard Hughes and His Racer, H-1

 It was early morning on September 13, 1935 in Santa Ana, California. The calm weather was a welcome sight to the crew at the Eddie Martin Airport who had been busy throughout the night preparing a sleek, single seat aircraft for an attempt at nothing less than breaking the world speed record. Their boss would make the dash for the record in an aircraft that was unlike any aircraft ever before seen. It was conceived in the mind of a 29 year old entrepreneur named Howard Hughes, and was designed by a team of engineers assembled and supervised by him. Rumors of the aircraft had been circulating for months, but the project was shrouded in secrecy. Up until this day only a handful of people had seen the aircraft, and even fewer had seen it fly - but it had been seen. The aircraft had been test flown, and moreover test flown from a public airport (Eddie Martin) in the daytime. Those who had glimpsed the craft realized that they had witnessed more than just a mere curiosity. The press and the public stood up and paid attention. Something remarkable was taking place in Santa Ana.
 Howard had sworn his staff to secrecy. He knew that what they were doing was on the cutting edge of technology, and was in fact engaged in the creation of new technology. Others would be eager to obtain technical information on this aircraft, information that was hard fought for and very valuable. Howard drew his crew around him early in the project and bluntly told them, "If you leak information, or tell anyone anything about this project, bad things will happen to you." He was not threatening them so much as very clearly defining for them the importance of secrecy. Hughes employees liked him and liked working for him. They also knew he was a man of his word: they all believed him when he talked about "bad things will happen". Hughes definitely had the resources to make good his warning. Nobody leaked information.
 Chief engineer on the project was Richard "Dick" Palmer. Richard Palmer had worked on the project from the beginning, first part time then turning to full time. Howard had met Dick back in November of 1931 when he was employed by the Lockheed Aircraft Corp. as project engineer. Howard had contracted Lockheed to make performance enhancements to his Boeing 100 biplane. Howard was forever looking for a faster airplane. Dick was put in charge of designing the modifications, and quickly developed a series of modifications that greatly enhanced the top speed of the airplane. Initially Hughes was somewhat intimidated by Palmer's extremely quiet nature, but the design changes made to the aircraft thoroughly impressed Hughes. Palmer clearly had real talent. As impressive as the speed modifications were though, Hughes still complained that airplanes just weren't fast enough.
 Howard had in his employ at the time a talented aircraft mechanic named Glenn Odekirk. Odekirk had graduated from Oregon State University in 1927 with an engineering degree, and had a natural aptitude in mechanics. He had even designed and built his own automobile, which he toured around the United States with his wife. Hughes had met Odekirk while he was filming his blockbuster movie, "Hells Angels". The movie made use of over 130 WWI era aircraft that demanded constant maintenance to keep flying. Hughes was impressed with Odekirk's work, and over the course of several months the two men became friends.