World’s Fastest Four-Engine Piston-Powered Aircraft: Story of the Republic XR-12 Rainbow
by Mike Machat, Specialty Press, North Branch, Minn., 2011, $32.95
Artist, publisher and author Mike Machat actually offers two books in one here. The first of course covers the Republic Rainbow, Alexander Kartveli’s contribution to both the world of art and the world of airplanes. Folded within that work, however, is the equally fascinating story of the Hughes XF-11, the handsome twin-engine aircraft that Howard Hughes flew to destruction.
Each book is the most authoritative work on the topic to date, and either would be worth the price of admission, for Machat is a master of the subject. An artist at heart, he combines compelling text with a dazzling collection of photos that completely illuminate the interior as well as the exterior of each aircraft.
Readers will detect a slightly more biased, almost affectionate handling of the beautiful XR-12, for its creation was unsullied by some of the problems inherent in the Hughes project. As an expert on Republic (and its predecessor, Seversky), Machat handles the origins, growth and ultimate frustrations of the Rainbow with true insight. He is more rigorous with the XF-11, in part because of the illogical, indecorous and ultimately self-defeating manner in which Hughes shepherded the design from its legendary D-2 origins to its demise in a totally unnecessary crash.
Machat’s greatest challenge was to make the equipment on the visionary Rainbow understandable to the reader. He accomplishes this with a long series of well-captioned photographs. This is a book every aircraft aficionado will want in his library, especially budding writers, who might use it as I have—as essential background for a piece on either aircraft.
Originally published in the March 2012 issue of Aviation History. To subscribe, click here.
