Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes

Paul Guerrero
Composition
31|05|06

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. Had and enormous wealth and intellect, and he also had achievement. He fortune with hard workin any job and with his great influential ideas.

Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was born in Houston, Texas on December 24, 1905. He was the son of Allene Gano Hughes and Howard Robard Hughes Sr., who invented the tri-cone roller bit which allowed rotary drilling for oil in previously inaccessible places. He also founded the Hughes Tool Company to commercialize this invention.
Howard’s parents diedwhen he was still a child; he inherited a considerable part of his father’s million dollar fortune. Howard's goals as a child were to become the best golfer, the best pilot, and the best movie producer. Despite the fact that he attended great schools, he never got a diploma. His father arranged for him to attend math and engineering classes at the California Institute of Technology. Then heenrolled in the now-called Rice University.

Hughes is best known as an aviation genius, because of all of his the designs, ideas, and invention of airplanes. 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 speedrecord 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 Smithsonian Institute 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 flyingaround the world in 3 days and 19 hours; the preceding record was more than four hours. Hughes also received many awards; some are: the Harmon Aviatrix 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 engineeringinnovations.

Howard Hughes purchased Transcontinental and Western Air (T&WA) in 1939. This company grew along with his chairman Jack Frye. TWA broke Pan Am’s legal designation as the US sole international carrier, so TWA began transatlantic flights using the new Lockheed “Connie”, which was used as both a civilian airliner and U.S. military air transport plane. In 1950, the airline changedits name to Trans World Airlines (TWA), because it offered flying routes from Europe to all Asia until Hong Kong. Later with the Transpacific Route Case of 1969, TWA was able to fly in the Pacific Ocean too. TWA and Pan Am were the only U.S. airlines serving Europe.

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 reportbecause the 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,...