The New York TimesHoward Hughes in 1936.Historic Headlines
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On Jan. 19, 1937, the millionaire Howard Hughes flew his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark, N.J., in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds, breaking the record he set a year earlier by about two hours. He averaged 332 miles an hour during the 2,490-mile journey.
The New York Times reported that Hughes had decided to make the transcontinental flight only hours before taking off, after hearing that another pilot was planning a run at his record. The Times wrote, “He decided to wheel out the ship and give them something better than that mark to shoot at, he said.”
Hughes’s flight was not without difficulty. He nearly fainted while adjusting his new oxygen mask. “Over the Sierras he had fears for a moment that his attempt might not be a success,” The Times
described, “but at last re-adjusted the mask so that the gas revived him. … During his faintness he had screamed to equalize the pressure from within his head and the rarefied air outside and was beginning
to feel better.”
Hughes was an Academy Award-winning movie producer with a passion for aviation. He earned his pilot’s license while filming “Hell’s Angels,” a 1930 film
about World War I pilots that cost an extravagant $3.8 million to make. He founded Hughes Aircraft Company in 1932 to build and redesign aircraft.
Hughes set his first aviation record in 1934 by flying 185 miles per hour and set a new record the following year in his revolutionary H-1 Racer, averaging 352 miles per hour before running out of gas and crashing. He escaped unharmed. In addition to his speed and transcontinental records, Hughes also set a record for quickest around-the-world flight in 1938, clocking in at 3 days and 19 hours.
During World War II, Hughes focused his time on building military aircraft and improving Trans World Airlines, which he began buying in 1938. After the war, in 1946, Hughes was in a near-fatal crash while flying an Air Force plane over Los Angeles, which led to an addiction to painkillers.
Despite his numerous aviation successes, Hughes’s most famous aircraft was a spectacular failure. His H-4 Hercules, known derisively as the “Spruce Goose,” was a wooden flying ship designed to transport military supplies while flying high enough to avoid submarine attacks. With a 320-foot wingspan, the Spruce Goose flew just once — but earned the distinction of being the largest fixed-wing aircraft ever flown.
Though he was quite flamboyant in his younger years, in his later life, Hughes’s behavior became increasingly eccentric as he descended into mental illness. He was reclusive, ate very little and disregarded basic hygiene. He died in 1976 while flying to a hospital as a passenger.
Connect to Today:
Today, Howard Hughes is remembered as the quintessential recluse, or hermit. His name is often invoked to describe those who have traded fame for obscurity. For example, the Times Topics pages for the band Guns N’ Roses describes the singer Axl Rose, as “a mystifying recluse, a heavy-metal Howard Hughes in cornrows.”
Think of someone from history who intrigues you. What archetypal characteristics or traits did he or she embody? To which figure of today would you compare this person? Why?
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