Howard Hughes: Aviator and Innovator - Term Paper Example

Howard Hughes: Aviator and Innovator Few people in American history have left a legacy comparable to Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. Dying with a net worth of approximately $1.5 billion in 1976, the ambitious over-achiever would have rivaled modern-day billionaires such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, but Hughes had a dynamic about himself that cast him as much more than a business tycoon – he was also an investor, engineer, film producer, director, philanthropist, and aviator. But despite all of the Hollywood glitz and controversies, along with his eccentric behavior out of the cockpit and the studio, Hughes is best known for his voluminous contribution to American aviation. From his innovative concepts to his competitive spirit, the dreamer’s head was always in the clouds, always yearning to make the next best plane and set the latest world record. Inspired by his father’s industry, vision, and ingenuity, the younger Hughes always desperately tried to live up to his father’s achievements − an endeavor most would say he far surmounted − yet the accomplished icon never felt he quite matched up (Barlett & Steele, 2004, p. 26), which gave him his insatiable drive to become the best at what he did. The 20th-Century icon ultimately drew most of his acclaim for his adventurous spirit, which was predominantly tied to his pursuits in the world of aviation. Hughes fixation with all things mechanical − rooted in his father’s love for machinery − would prove to give him the drive that would earn his place in aviation history as one of the great minds and innovators of his time. Born to Allene Stone Gano and Howard R. Hughes, Sr., on December 24, 1905 in Humble, Texas, Howard Hobard Hughes, Jr., would soon make his mark on the world in numerous ways, which very likely could have been sparked by a very important move by his father just several years after his birth. In 1909, the future aviator’s father founded Hughes Tool Company in Houston, Texas, which proved to spark the young innovator’s intrigue with engineering. Fascinated with mechanical gadgetry, young Howard would immerse himself for days at a time in his father’s workshop, seeing how things were put together and how they worked (McCaffery, 2005). This fixation soon manifested into early genius, as at the tender age of 11, he constructed Houston’s first radio transmitter, and the following year, he was the first in his hometown to build a motorized bicycle, using parts from his father’s steam engine − he also took his first flying lesson at 14 (Pound, 2011). These, along with his auditing of Caltech math and aeronautical engineering courses, were all building blocks to Hughes’ claims to fame, as he became a chip of the old block of this father, who invented a self-sharpening oil tool drill bit during his company’s early stages – a business that became a lucrative fairly quickly. In 1922, the teenager’s mother died, and just two years later, when he was only 19, his father also passed and left him 75 percent of the family’s fortune, (Pound, 2011). The traumatic experience of his parents’ deaths sparked the young Hughes’ philanthropic endeavors, as he created a medical research laboratory in 1925 and allocated monies that would later christen the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1953 that focused on biomedical research, (Brown & Broeske, 2004, p. 34). This transference of wealth in 1925 also ignited the financial independence that propelled Hughes to drop out of Rice University, marry Ella Botts Rice, and bridle his dreams in filmmaking – all in the same year. His first film in 1927 was a financial success, and the following year, he won the first Academy Award for Best Director of a Comedy Picture in his second film (Two Arabian Knights), (Pound, 2011). That same year, he was nominated for an Academy award for The Racket, and was also nominated in 1931 for The Front Page, while his other acclaimed films over the years included Hell’s Angels (1930), Scarface (1932), and The Outlaw (1943). But despite all of his success in Hollywood, Hughes’ heart remained up in the air – in aviation, that is. Despite his detour in the movie industry, Hughes’ childhood love for engineering and innovation never subsided. Born just two years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903, Hughes melded his ingenuity in mechanical engineering to generate a passion for motorized airplanes. As airplanes were first used in World War I, Hughes understood their importance in the world, not only for transportation, but for national defense and military prowess. But commuting and national security were not always the primary concern of Hughes, whose desire to have the competitive edge was often dubbed by critics as culminating in obsessive-compulsive behavior (Pasternak, 2001). Regardless of his motives for ambition, Hughes’ innovative, creative, and financial endowment enabled him to be one of the most influential and successful aviators of the 20th Century. Hughes went full-throttle into the aviation chapter of his life in 1932, when he formed the Hughes Aircraft Company as a division of the company founded by his father, the Hughes Tool Company. After purchasing a fleet of aircraft used in his 1930 film Hell’s Angels, Hughes poured his financial and engineering resources into creating faster and more efficient aircraft for military and transportation purposes (McCaffery, 2005). In 1935, the aviator’s ambitions led him to claim the airspeed record for an airplane taking off from land, at 352 miles per hour, which was accomplished in the most technologically innovative aircraft of its time, the Hughes H-1 Racer. He recruited and employed the best help he could find to build this plane, which had more innovations than any plane at the time, complete with retractable landing gear, flushed rivets, and a streamlined aerodynamic body − all firsts in aviation (Ibid.). And just a couple years later, Hughes flew a redesigned version of the H-1 in a non-stop flight from Los Angeles to Newark in a record-setting time of just under seven-and-a-half hours, with an average speed of 322 miles per hour (Howard Hughes Flies, 2011). This aircraft was not only considered a marvel of the air in the United States at the time; it was readily imitated by the Japanese in their military efforts leading up to World War II, when they built the Mitsubishi Zero fighter aircraft in its image, as the late pilot and politician Barry Goldwater stated when receiving the Howard Hughes Silver Medallion Award in 1985 (McCaffery, 2005). But this was just the beginning for Hughes and his vision to lift American aviation to the stars. Never satisfied, Hughes was in pursuit of another record the following year, which would change the way the world thought about intercontinental flight. In 1938, when he and a crew of three flew a Lockheed-14 airplane around the world in a record-breaking three days, 19 hours, and 17 minutes, Hughes instantly became a national hero (McCaffery, 2005). After the courageous pilot completed his circuit from New York City to Paris, Moscow, Omsk, Yakutsk, Fairbanks, Minneapolis, and back to the Big Apple − with all of his latest innovative radio and navigational equipment − he emphasized that such technological feats were necessary to counter the fascist tyranny spreading throughout Europe led by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini (Barlett & Steele, 2004, p. 90-91). In the effort, Hughes also beat Charles Lindbergh’s New York to Paris flight record by several hours, and with the advanced instrumentation – much of which he devised – his trip was much more refined and safe than Lindbergh’s, who had only a few gauges and limited communication for his earlier record-setting flight. Upon his arrival in New York City, a crowd of 100,000 amassed to celebrate the aviation hero, and when asked what dangers he experienced on his around-the-world flight, he expressed, “only the crowds, only the crowd,” (McCaffery, 2005). Hughes was not fond of accolades and crowds, and when a ticker-tape parade and a large New York City-style banquet were thrown in his honor, he evaded the limelight to retreat to a private getaway in Connecticut. During this time, Hughes began concentrating his attention on commercial fleets of passenger planes and acquired airline companies, which ultimately grew into the giant Trans World Airlines (TWA). This is when the airline mogul disappeared into obscurity for six months, as he co-piloted planes and was a baggage handler under the pseudonym of Charles W. Howard in order to learn the ins and outs of the business (McCaffery, 2005). Hughes’ endeavors with passenger planes ushered in a new era of air travel − which was now faster, safer, and more comfortable − and the aviation mastermind was now dubbed, “The Father of Commercial Aviation,” (Ibid.). A new age of aviation had dawned, and it came riding on Hughes’ shoulders. Perhaps a warning of what was to come, Hughes experienced a setback in his aviation career when piloting a seaplane that would be a predecessor to his ultimate flying boat several years later. Always having the future in mind, Hughes wanted to practice landings of his Sikorsky S-43 amphibian aircraft at Lake Mead in California, not far from Las Vegas – one of his favorite retreat locations, where he bought an unprecedented six casinos without appearing before the Nevada State Gaming Commission (McCaffery, 2005). During the test flight in 1943, along with two CAA aviation inspectors, Hughes crashed the plane and sustained a huge gash on top of his head – the crash was so severe that one of the inspectors was killed in the accident, (Ibid.). This crash, however, did not deter the fearless flyer from taking to the skies again, as he always pressed to push the limits of his planes and his ability. The year 1946 marked the beginning of the end for Hughes’ aviation career as a pilot. It was this year that the modern-day hero took to the skies to pilot the experimental XF-11, a reconnaissance aircraft Hughes wanted to sell to the United States Army and Air Force for its covert photography capabilities. Wanting to show off its abilities – the 3,000 horsepower engine could reach speeds up to 450 miles per hour − Hughes tried to push the high-altitude Cold War spy plane to its limits over Los Angeles, when one of the engines’ propellers failed, ultimately causing him to crash into several Beverly Hills homes after he tried to land on the Los Angeles Country Club golf course to save the plane (Barlett & Steele, 2004, p. 140). In the crash, Hughes sustained critical injuries, including “a broken leg, multiple cracked ribs on his left side, a dislodged heart, a fractured skull, and burns and abrasions over 65 percent of his body,” (McCaffery, 2005). He also sustained a crushed chest, a broken collar bone, and a collapsed left lung − with a 50/50 chance to live − and his survival was a miracle, as it was discovered by a recovered airspeed indicator that the impact speed of the plane was 155 miles per hour, which would have killed most men on the spot, (White, 2008). Yet, stubborn and unrelenting, Hughes sued the manufacturer of the plane’s engine, proving that the crash was due to mechanical failure, not pilot error, and he was fearlessly and miraculously back up in the air successfully flying a second XF-11 just two months later (McCaffery, 2005). This was a feat that put all skeptics to rest, yet due to the sustained injuries and debilitating medications to which he became addicted and dependent upon, Hughes’ flying career was in its waning years. After Hughes’ tragic episode that ended up landing him in the hospital instead of on a golf course, the aviator extraordinaire had a finale to his flying career that no one would forget. Two years after the conclusion of World War II, Hughes’ mammoth project, the Hughes H-4 Hercules – popularly known as the Spruce Goose – was supposedly ready to go. The problem was, however, that the herculean aircraft was supposed to be ready for deployment in the war against the axis powers to provide an airlift for 750 troops to evade the deadly torpedoes of the German U-boats (McCaffery, 2005). Still the largest airplane ever built at nearly 220 feet long with a 320-foot wingspan, the Spruce Goose − whose current home is at the Evergreen Aviation Museum 90 miles south of Portland, Oregon – and its owner were put under major scrutiny in a trial alleging fraud on Hughes’ end, as U.S. Senator Owen Brewster contended that the Hughes Flying Boat would never fly and was incapable of flying (Barlett & Steele, 2004, pp. 119-20). Hughes gladly took the senator to task, and on November 2, 1947, the acclaimed aviator took the Spruce Goose in a test run in the Long Beach harbor in California, holding her up in the air for more than a mile to the astonishment of 100 members of the press on board and to the chagrin of the now politically doomed Brewster (McCaffery, 2005). The controversial plane would never fly again, and Hughes would never pilot another plane again either, but the aviator’s spirit was not crushed, as his drive to press forward with the most advanced avionics and aircraft continued on for decades. When Hughes had his two feet firmly grounded during the 1940s, his accomplishments were still recognized as “sky’s the limit.” This was a decade that saw the avionics mogul build Hughes Electronics into the largest supplier of weapons systems for the Unites States Air Force and Navy, and before the half-century mark, Hughes devised the first cost-effective flight routes to Europe and South America as TWA’s principle shareholder (Brown & Broeske, 2004, p. 386-87), after purchasing a majority of the company’s stock in 1939 for $7 million. From this decade into the mid-1950s, Hughes Aircraft proliferated from a four-man operation to an industry-leading corporation with more than 80,000 employees, incorporating both Hughes Electronics and Hughes Helicopters (Ibid.). Innovations included an electronic weapons control system designed to locate and destroy airplanes day or night with radar in all types of weather conditions, as well as a fail-proof air-to-air missile (Ibid.). Not solely satisfied with his success in military technology, Hughes also wanted to corner the market in passenger planes, but federal law forbid him to build his own planes, so he butted heads with Boeing when he placed an order with Lockheed − the company that built the plane he flew around the world in record time – to build the Constellation, which would compete with the Boeing 307 Stratoliner (Wilkinson, 2010). Hughes contributed to the “Connie’s” revolutionary design that added speed and lift, beating its rival Stratoliner in virtually every category, and made a deal with Lockheed that it must sell its first 40 airliners it produced to TWA; the plane was so popular, it became President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Air Force One,” (McCaffery, 2005). But even though Hughes brought a new dynamic to the airline giant, TWA, conflicts within and without soon ended in Hughes having to let go of the company, but this would not sink his prowess and influence in American aircrafts. Hughes’ ambition to bring success to all of his aeronautical companies never ceased. But when he sought to purchase 63 Convair 880 jetliners for $400 million in 1956, he met outside opposition from creditors who insisted that he give up control of the company because of the “reckless” purchase, even though he owned 78 percent – and they finally pushed him out by 1960, but not without a fight (Convair 880 CV 880, 2011). By 1966, because of what the U.S. federal court called a conflict of interest due to his ownership of both Hughes Aircraft and TWA, Hughes was ordered to sell his TWA shares – a transaction that profited him $547 million. This money only added to the $440 million profit he made from the U.S. military, which purchased his state-of=the-art helicopters, helping him to develop the TH55A helicopter, which was the most maneuverable wartime chopper of its time (Brown & Broeske, 2004, p. 387). And during this space pioneering and exploration decade, Hughes’ teams created unmanned satellite prototypes that would place the United States in the forefront of the space race (Ibid.). From this decade into the 1970s, Hughes Aircraft would secure lucrative government contracts to produce innovative technological advances such as “electronics in weaponry, guidance, missiles, radar systems, satellites, microelectronics, ground support, and thousands of component parts,” as this company would ultimately build the first satellite put into orbit and the first vehicle on the moon (McCaffery, 2005). But almost a decade after Hughes’ death in 1976, General Motors purchased Hughes Aircraft for $5.2 billion, and the money, per his will, went to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland to fund medical research (Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 2011), and today, it is the second largest foundation in the world with assets of nearly $15 billion. But the legacy and things gleaned from the Hughes empire of aviation innovation continues to inspire engineers and pilots to this very day. Despite the fact that Howard Hughes will forever be known for his monumental contributions to aviation, his name will still be inextricably tied the blemishes and bruises that marked his personal life. From his three shattered marriages and womanizing reputation, to his reported obsessive-compulsive behavior and heightened mental instability induced by painkillers after his sever plane crash, to his eccentric life of obscurity living in Las Vegas casinos during his later years, Hughes definitely had his own personal struggles and hardships despite his financial success and fame. And even though his lucrative and award-winning film career from the late 1920s to the 1950s gave him much acclaim, the controversies that coincided with his pictures − from his affairs with actresses to their provocative wardrobes − served to blacken his reputation as a Hollywood director and producer (Brown & Broeske, 2004, p. 47). However, being grounded to his childhood love affair with engineering kept the aviator on track to live a life that consistently contributed to the advancement of United States aviation and technology. Howard Hughes was a man who made immeasurable leaps and bounds for the world of aviation, dedicating his life to the advancement of aircraft in both American transportation and military readiness. Coming of age when air flight had just barley taken off, Howard Hughes will always be remembered as one of the foremost innovators, aviators, and competitors of the 20th Century. From Hughes’ inventions in his father’s workshop and his world records in flight, to his avionics innovations and his relentless spirit after airplane crashes to his shrewd business dealings with airlines and his contribution to space exploration and national defense, his devotion to improve America through his genius and hard work has placed him as an American icon in aviation that will inspire aspiring engineers and pilots for generations to come. References Barlett, D. L. & Steele, J. B. (2004). Howard Hughes: His life and madness. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Brown, P. H. & Broeske, P. H. (2004). Howard Hughes: The untold story. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. Convair 880 CV 880. (2011). Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved from http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/cv-880.htm. Howard Hughes Flies around the World. (2011). Timothy Hughes rare & early newspapers. Retrieved from http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/546751. Howard Hughes Medical Institute. (2011). Funding Universe. Retrieved from http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Howard-Hughes-Medical-Institute-Company-History.html. McCaffery, B. (2005). The aviator Howard Hughes. Retrieved from: http://www.aviatorhowardhughes.com/hughes-tool-co.htm. Pasternak, B. (2004). Howard Hughes and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Firstscience.com. Retrieved from http://www.firstscience.com/home/articles/humans/howard-hughes-and-obsessive-compulsive-disorder-ocd_1325.html. Pound, K. (2011). Howard Hughes – Aviation pioneer, lady’s man, twisted genius. Houston’s Aviation Community News. Retrieved from http://aviationcommunityofhouston.com/howard-hughes-aviation-pioneer-ladys-man-twisted-genius/. White, S. (2008). Welcome home, Howard: XF-11 the plane that nearly killed him. UNLV University Libraries. Retrieved from http://digital.library.unlv.edu/hughes/xf11.php. Wilkinson, S. (2010). The legendary Lockheed Constellation. HistoryNet.com. Retrieved from http://www.historynet.com/the-legendary-lockheed-constellation.htm. Read More