Hodkinson HT-1
The Hodkinson HT-1 was an American eight-seat transport aircraft with three engines. It was a sesquiplane, meaning its upper wing was larger than the lower wings. The HT-1 first flew on July 17, 1929.
Only one HT-1 was completed. Hodkinson Aircraft had ordered five, but the company ran out of money during the early Great Depression, so production stopped after the prototype. The lone airplane later served in Guatemala for several years after Hodkinson’s collapse.
The HT-1 was built by Valley Manufacturing Co., a Hodkinson unit in Glendale, California. It was designed by Don R. Berlin, who would later work on the Curtiss P-40. William Wadsworth Hodkinson, founder of Paramount Pictures, started Hodkinson Aircraft in 1929 to enter the aviation business.
Power came from three 170 hp Curtiss Challenger radial engines: one in the nose and two atop the lower wing, braced to the upper wing. The upper wing carried most of the lift and had wide, narrow-chord Friese ailerons from the wingtips to above the outer engines. The shorter lower wings were connected to the upper wing with interplane struts.
The fuselage was flat-sided behind the central engine, with cabane struts attaching the wing to the fuselage. The pilots sat side by side with dual controls, though the co-pilot’s controls could be removed to carry an extra passenger. The six-seat cabin was accessed from doors on both sides, plus a rear door leading to the cabin; there was a toilet at the back and a baggage space accessible from outside.
The HT-1 had a conventional tail, a fixed wide-track landing gear, and a tailwheel. After its public showing in 1929, the financial crash ended Hodkinson Aircraft’s work, and the prototype went to Guatemala, where it remained in service for several years.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:41 (CET).