Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes

Paul Guerrero
Composition
Mr. Berrios
29|01|07

Howard Hughes, one of the most mysterious men in America. He achieved the American dream by not only becoming wealthy, but he also built an empire. A businessman, plane designer, movie producer, industrialist, was great in everything he focused in. He created his fortune with hard work, great influential ideas, and braveness todanger. He set world records with own planes and won trophies, because of his great achievements. He had great inventions most were planes, which are used now and some which are historical in their times. He is marked by some accidents, which created a squisofrenic person and eccentric.

Hughes is best known as an aviation genius, because of all of his the designs, ideas, and invention ofairplanes. He is famous for the H-4 Hercules, also known as the “Spruce Goose”, and is also known because of his eccentric behavior. He set many world records while flying that seemed unreachable in his time. On September 13, 1935, he set a new speed record aboard his H-1 Racer by setting a speed of 566 km per hour, the previous record was 505 km per hour. This H-1 was donated to the SmithsonianInstitute in 1975; now it is on display at the National Air and Space Museum. On January 19, 1937, he set a trans-continental speed record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds. On 1938 he set a record by flying around the world in 3 days and 19 hours; the preceding record was more than four hours. Hughes also received many awards; some are: the HarmonAviatrix Trophy (1936 and in 1938) which is given for the most outstanding international achievements, the Collier Trophy (1939) which is the most prestigious award in the aviation field, and the Octave Chanute Award (1940) which is given for engineering innovations.

One of Hughes’s most famous designs was the H-4 Hercules, also known as the Spruce Goose. This was a jumbo boat that flew; it wasspecially designed for carrying soldiers in a war. The idea was to use it in World War II, but unfortunately the Hercules was finished just after the end of the war. This plane was another satisfactory idea of Hughes, because it successfully flew once with Hughes in control. This is why Howard had to testify against the Senate War Investigating Committee, but they failed to file a final report becausethe government didn’t permit planes made out of aircraft aluminum. So Hughes had to make the plane out of hard close-grained wood so he could accomplish his contract with the U.S. Government. This plane was on display next to RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California for many years, but now it is in McMinnville, Oregon where it is part of the Evergreen Aviation Museum.

On July 7, 1946, Hugheswas flying a prototype plane of the US Army, made by him, when an oil leak changed the way a propeller had to work. The plane started to drop down and crashed in a Beverly Hills neighborhood. When the plane finally stopped, after destroying three houses, the fuel tanks exploded, setting fire to the plane and a close house. In the accident, Hughes got a crushed collar bone, six crushed ribs and somethird-degree burns, but besides this it affected him the rest of his life. With this he turned into a more unusual person because he developed an addiction to opiates because of use of morphine as a painkiller during his rehabilitation. He turned into an isolated person, developing a disease known as hypochondria, which makes a person preoccupied with physical health and body. This personbelieves, fears or is convinced that he has a serious disease, despite medical reassurance. Hughes became so isolated the he was inside a room for a little over 8 months, only opening the room for food carefully inspected for any germs. The main reason he left the room in 1947 was because he was called to testify. Senator Ralph Owen Brewster opposed the commercial interest of Howard Hughes. He said that...