Howard Hughes

The following fictional characters appear to have been, at least in part, patterned after Hughes:. (*) Duration of central eclipse.. Although Moore never produced proof of a marriage (and married five more times, while Hughes married Jean Peters), her book, The Beauty and the Billionaire, became a best-seller. Selected past and upcoming eclipses are:. In 1984, Hughes' estate paid an undisclosed amount to Terry Moore, who claimed to have been secretly married to Hughes on a yacht in international waters off Mexico in 1949 and never divorced. Eclipses where the path of totality crosses major population centres generate the most interest in the general public. Suits brought by the states of California and Texas claiming they were owed inheritance tax were both rejected by the court. Although there is a total eclipse visible somewhere on Earth most years, some are more conveniently observed than others.

Supreme Court ruled that Hughes Aircraft was owned by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, who sold it to General Motors in 1985 for $5 billion. [1]. The U.S. Like a transit of a planet it will not get dark. Although it now appears that the "Mormon Will" may very well have been authentic, it is too late to change the verdict in the original trial since the statute of limitations has long since expired. The satellite passes over the face of the Sun in about a second, typically. The location where Dummar claimed to have picked up Hughes is 6 miles south of the Cottontail Ranch. This means the best you can get is a satellite transit, but these events are difficult to watch, because the zone of visibility is very small.

Howard Harrell stated that he convinced his wife not to come forward during the trial since it might bring unwanted publicity. At the altitude of the International Space Station, for example, an object would need to be about 3.35 km across to blot the Sun out entirely. Beverly Harrell had wanted to come forward during the "Mormon Will" trial, and testify that Howard Hughes had been in the same general area and same time that Dummar claimed to have picked him up in the desert. But none are large enough to cause an eclipse. Howard Harrell stated that his wife had told him of Hughes' visits to the Cottontail Ranch. Artificial satellites can also get in the line between Earth and Sun. The third witness is Howard Harrell, the widower of Madam Beverly Harrell, who ran the Cottontail Ranch in 1967. When no such planet was found during such an eclipse, the possibility of its existence was ruled out.

Unable to locate Hughes, Deiro eventually flew back to Las Vegas alone, and learned later that Hughes somehow had made it back to the Desert Inn. At one time, some scientists — including Albert Einstein — hypothesized that there may have been a planet even closer to the Sun than Mercury; the only way to confirm its existence would have been to observe it during a total solar eclipse. While waiting for Hughes, Deiro fell asleep and later awoke only to learn that Hughes had left the Cottontail Ranch a few hours earlier. More common — but still quite rare — is a conjunction of any planet (not confined exclusively to Mercury or Venus) at the time a total solar eclipse, in which event the planet will be visible very near the eclipsed Sun, when without the eclipse it would have been lost in the Sun's glare. Guido Roberto Deiro, a former pilot for Hughes Tool Company, stated that between Christmas and New Years during 1967 he flew Hughes in a Cessna 206 to a brothel called the Cottontail Ranch located in the same general area where Dummar claims to have picked up Hughes. This was the lowest time difference between a transit of a planet and a solar eclipse in the historical past. John Meier, a former Hughes employee entrusted with the purchase of various mining properties, stated that Hughes left the Desert Inn Hotel on different occasions to visit mine sites in the same general area where Dummar claims to have picked up Hughes. Only 5 hours after the transit of Venus on June 4, 1769 there was a total solar eclipse, which was visible in Northern America, Europe and Northern Asia as partial solar eclipse.

Agent Gary Magnesen, supports Dummar's claims and brings to light three new witnesses. The next anticipated simultaneous occurrence of a Solar eclipse and a transit of Mercury will be on July 5, 6757, and of a Solar eclipse and a transit of Venus is expected on April 5, 15232. A 2005 book titled "The Investigation", written by retired F.B.I. But these events are extremely rare because of their short durations. Melvin and Howard starring Jason Robards and Paul Le Mat is based on Dummar's tale. In principle, the simultaneous occurrence of a Solar eclipse and a transit of a planet is possible. The estate was eventually split between 22 cousins in 1983. On these occasions, an object — especially a planet (often Mercury) — may be visible near the sunrise or sunset point of the horizon when it could not have been seen without the eclipse.

The Mormon Will was one of 40 "wills" filed by 400 people claiming to be Hughes's heirs. When this occurs shortly before the former or after the latter, the sky will appear much darker than it would otherwise be immediately before sunrise or after sunset. He claimed a "mysterious man" gave him a document with instructions to deposit it at the LDS office. It is possible for a solar eclipse to attain totality (or in the event of a partial eclipse, near totality) before sunrise or after sunset from a particular location. After saying he knew nothing about the Mormon Will, mounting evidence forced Dummar to admit that he lied. During a partial eclipse, the light spots will show the partial shape of the sun, as seen on the picture. The court also declared Hughes died intestate. These are images of the sun.

The Mormon Will was rejected by a Nevada court in June 1978 as a forgery. Normally the spots of light which fall through the small openings between the leaves of a tree, have a circular shape. Dropping him off at the Sands Hotel, Dummar said the man told him he was Hughes. During a solar eclipse special observations can be done with the unaided eye. The man asked for a ride to Las Vegas. Note that the modern conventional dates are different by a year or two, and that these two eclipse records have been ignored so far. Highway 95, 150 miles (250 kilometers) north of Las Vegas. The sky suddenly darkened in the middle of the sky, well after the battles of Thermopylae and Salamis, after the departure of Mardonius to Thessaly at the beginning of the spring of (477 BC) and his second attack on Athens, after the return of Cleombrotus to Sparta.

Dummar, who had appeared on Let's Make a Deal, among other game shows, claimed to reporters that late one evening in December 1967, he found a disheveled and dirty man lying along U.S. Herodotus (book IX, 10, book VIII, 131, and book IX, 1) reports that another solar eclipse was observed in Sparta during the next year, on August 1, 477 BC. The "Mormon Will" gave a gas-station owner named Melvin Dummar a 1/16th share of Hughes's $2 billion estate. An annular eclipse of the Sun occurred at Sardis on February 17, 478 BC, while Xerxes was departing for his expedition against Greece, as Herodotus, VII, 37 recorded ([Hind and Chambers, 1889: 323] considered this absolute date more than a century ago). A holographic will was soon found on the desk of an official of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. One likely candidate took place on May 28, 585 BC, probably near the Halys river in the middle of modern Turkey. Speculation became rampant that he may have written a holographic will. Exactly which eclipse was involved has remained uncertain, although the issue has been studied by hundreds of ancient and modern authorities.

After Hughes' death, an intensive search began for his will, but one could not be found. Soldiers on both sides put down their weapons and declared peace as a result of the eclipse. The last car Howard Huges ever owned, a 1953 Buick Roadmaster Sedan, customized with a dust and air filter in the trunk, sold on Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction for $1,500,000. Herodotus wrote that Thales of Milete predicted an eclipse which occurred during a war between the Medians and the Lydians. Howard Hughes is interred in the Glenwood Cemetery in Houston. For a discussion, see the text by Stephenson. Hughes was in extremely poor physical condition at the time of his death; X-rays revealed broken-off hypodermic needles still embedded in his arms. There have been other claims to date earlier eclipses, in Babylon and also in China, but these are highly disputed and rely on much supposition.

A subsequent autopsy determined kidney failure as the cause of death. This is the earliest solar eclipse that can be exactly dated. Years of severe self-neglect had made him practically unrecognizable, and the FBI had to resort to fingerprint identification to identify the body. A solar eclipse of 15 June 763 BC mentioned in an Assyrian text is important for the Chronology of the Ancient Orient. Hughes died on April 5, 1976, at the age of 70 while en route on an airplane from his penthouse in Mexico to Methodist Hospital in Houston. After a Saros cycle finishes, a new Saros cycle begins 1 Inex later (hence its name: in-ex). Irving later spent fourteen months in jail. The Inex cycle is itself a poor cycle, but it is very convenient in the classification of eclipse cycles.

Prior to the book's publication, however, Hughes (in a rare telephone conference) finally denounced Irving, and the entire project was eventually exposed as a hoax. The Saros cycle is probably the most well known, and one of the best, eclipse cycles. Hughes was such a reclusive figure that he hesitated in coming out to publicly refute Irving's statement, leading many people to place faith in the truth of Irving's claim. Two such cycles are the Saros and the Inex. In 1972, author Clifford Irving created a media sensation when he claimed to have co-written an authorized autobiography of Howard Hughes. If the date and time of a solar eclipse is known, it is possible to predict other eclipses using eclipse cycles. was ordered by President Nixon's aides with the intention of recovering potentially damaging papers documenting payments from Hughes to Nixon and establishing an apparent connection between Hughes and the Democratic Party (Larry O'Brien, the Democratic National Committee chairman whose office was broken into, had been a paid lobbyist for Hughes since 1968). Normally this is not visible because the photosphere is much brighter than the corona.

According to some Watergate historians, the infamous 1972 burglary of Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C. For astronomers, a total solar eclipse forms a rare opportunity to observe the corona (the outer layer of the Sun's atmosphere). She would state only that she had not seen Hughes for several years before their divorce. (eclipse predictions by Fred Espenak, NASA/GSFC.). Peters refused to discuss her life with Hughes, and declined several lucrative offers from big-name publishers and biographers. The longest total solar eclipse during the 8,000-year period from 3000 BC to 5000 AD will occur on July 16, 2186, when totality will last 7 min 29 s. The usually untrusting Hughes surprised his aides when he did not insist on a confidentiality agreement from Peters as a condition of the divorce; aides reported that Peters was one of the few people Hughes never spoke ill of. The next eclipse of comparable duration will not occur until June 25, 2150.

She agreed to a lifetime alimony payment of $70,000 a year, adjusted for inflation, and waived all claims to Hughes' estate. Observers aboard a Concorde aircraft were able to stretch totality to about 74 minutes by flying along the path of the Moon's umbra. In 1971, he divorced Jean Peters; they had been living apart for several years. The last time this happened was June 30, 1973. Many of the hotels in which he stayed were forced to undergo major renovations to repair the damage Hughes had caused to the premises. During each millennium there are typically fewer than 10 total solar eclipses exceeding 7 minutes. As he deteriorated, Hughes moved around to the Bahamas, Vancouver, London, and several other locations, always taking up residence in the top floor penthouse of his hotel and insisting on having the windows blacked out. Totality can never last more than 7 min 40 s, and is usually much shorter.

His aides never offered the bribes, reporting to Hughes that Johnson had declined the offer, and that they had been unable to contact Nixon. Then, after waiting so long, the total eclipse only lasts for a few minutes, as the Moon's umbra moves eastward at over 1700 km/h. Johnson and Richard Nixon if they would shut down the open-air nuclear weapons testing program in Nevada (Hughes was afraid of the risk posed by the residual nuclear radiation). Although they occur somewhere on Earth approximately every 18 months, it has been estimated that they recur at any given place only once every 370 years, on average (Stephenson, p.54). He even once ordered his aides to offer $1 million each to presidents Lyndon B. Total solar eclipses are rare events. Having bought up many of Las Vegas's major businesses, Hughes wielded enormous political and economic power in Nevada and was often able to influence the outcome of elections and ballot votes. Outside of the central track, a partial eclipse can usually be seen over a much larger area of the Earth.

A few days after the order arrived, Hughes announced he had grown tired of banana-nut and only wanted vanilla ice cream, with the consequence that his aides were distributing free banana-nut ice cream to their friends and family for years after the fact. In the most favourable circumstances, when a total eclipse occurs very close to perigee, the track can be over 250 km wide and the duration of totality may be over 7 minutes. They put in a request for 350 gallons, the smallest amount the company could provide for a special order, and had it shipped from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. The width of the track of a central eclipse varies according to the relative apparent diameters of the Sun and Moon. Hughes once took a liking to Baskin Robbins' banana-nut ice cream, and his aides sought to secure a bulk shipment for him only to discover that Baskin-Robbins had discontinued the flavor. The Earth is also rotating from west to east, but the umbra always moves faster than any given point on the Earth's surface, so it almost always appears to move in a roughly west-east direction across a map of the Earth (there are some rare exceptions to this which can occur during an eclipse of the midnight sun in arctic or antarctic regions). In addition to supervising day-to-day business operations, they also went to great pains to satisfy Hughes's every bizarre whim. During a central eclipse, the Moon's umbra (or antumbra, in the case of an annular eclipse) moves rapidly from west to east across the Earth.

Hughes' considerable business holdings were overseen by a small panel unofficially dubbed "The Mormon Mafia" on account of the many Latter-day Saints on the committee. However, some are visible only as partial eclipses, because the umbra passes either above or below the earth, and others are central only in remote regions of the arctic or antarctic. A chronic insomniac, Hughes bought several local television stations (including KLAS-TV) so that there would always be something for him to watch in the early hours of the morning. This means that in any given year, there will always be at least two solar eclipses, and there can be as many as five. He also purchased several other hotels/casinos (Castaways, New Frontier, The Landmark Hotel and Casino, Sands and Silver Slipper) from the Mafia, transactions which ultimately ended mob control of the city 's hotels and casinos. Sometimes the New Moon occurs close enough to a node during two consecutive months. The elderly Howard Hughes moved with his entourage from hotel to hotel and from Beverly Hills to Boston to Las Vegas, where he eventually bought the Desert Inn after the proprietors threatened to evict him. Therefore, the New Moon occurs close to the nodes at two periods of the year approximately six months apart, and there will always be at least one solar eclipse during these periods.

In reality, it was an overreaction by Hughes to the syphilis diagnosis; fearful of the germs which might be lingering on his clothing, he torched his entire wardrobe as well as every piece of linen in his house.). The Moon's orbit intersects with the ecliptic at the two nodes that are 180 degrees apart. (In the film The Aviator (2004), this incident is depicted as his response to his breakup with Katharine Hepburn. The time between one perigee and the next is known as the anomalistic month. His syphilis was also indirectly responsible for a bizarre episode in which Hughes burned all his clothes. Finally, the Moon's perigee is moving forwards in its orbit, and makes a complete circuit in about 9 years. After receiving medical treatment for his symptoms, Hughes was warned by his doctor not to shake hands for some time, and he avoided doing so for the rest of his life. This period is called the draconitic month.

The condition first manifested itself in the form of tiny blisters that erupted on his hands. This means that the time between each passage of the Moon through the ascending node is slightly shorter than the sidereal month. Hughes had contracted syphilis as a young man, and much of the strange behavior at the end of his life — his well-documented aversion to handshaking, for example — has been attributed by modern biographers to the tertiary stage of that disease. However, the nodes of the Moon's orbit are gradually moving in a retrograde motion, due the the action of the Sun's gravity on the Moon's motion, and they make a complete circuit every 18.5 years. He insisted on using paper towels to pick up objects, that he could insulate himself from germs. The Moon crosses from south to north of the ecliptic at its ascending node. Many biographies and fictionalized works have reported that he stored his urine in jars and wore Kleenex boxes as shoes, although it has been reported that he only did the latter once, as "protection" when a toilet flooded. This is known as the synodic month, and corresponds to what is commonly called the lunar month.

Hughes by this time had become severely addicted to codeine, valium, and a number of other painkillers and was becoming increasingly frail. This means that the average time between one New Moon and the next is longer, and is approximately 29.6 days. Toward the end of his life, his inner circle was largely composed of Mormons because he considered them trustworthy — even though he was not a member of the Latter Day Saint movement.[2]. However, during one sidereal month, the Earth has moved on in its orbit around the Sun. Several doctors were kept in the house on a substantial salary, though Hughes rarely saw them and usually refused to follow their advice. This is known as the sidereal month. Though he always kept a barber on call, Hughes only had his hair cut and nails trimmed about once a year. The Moon orbits the Earth in approximately 27.3 days, relative to a fixed frame of reference.

Hughes eventually became a complete recluse, locking himself away in darkened rooms in a drug-induced daze. It is only when the Moon is closer to the Earth than average (near its perigee) that a total eclipse occurs. He was reportedly so concerned by the matter as to write a detailed memorandum to the film crew on how to fix the problem. On average, the Moon appears to be slightly smaller than the Sun, so the majority (about 60%) of central eclipses are annular. While producing The Outlaw, Hughes became absorbed by a minor flaw in one of Jane Russell's blouses, claiming that the fabric bunched up along a seam and gave the appearance of two nipples on each of Russell's breasts. This means that the apparent size of the Moon is sometimes larger or smaller than average, and it is this effect that leads to the difference between total and annular eclipses (the distance of the Earth from the Sun also varies during the year, but this is a smaller effect). Hughes had displayed symptoms consistent with OCD his entire life: In the 1930s, close friends reported he was obsessed with the size of peas — one of his favorite foods — and used a special fork to sort them by size before he ate. The Moon's orbit is also elliptical, which means that the distance of the Moon from the Earth can vary by about 6% from its average value.

He was reported at different times to be terminally ill, mentally unstable, or possibly dead. A solar eclipse can occur only when the New Moon occurs close to one of the points (known as nodes) where the Moon's orbit crosses the ecliptic – hence the name. Once one of the most visible men in America, he ultimately vanished from public view altogether, although the tabloids continued to follow rumors regarding his behavior and whereabouts. Because of this, at the time of a New Moon, the Moon will usually pass above or below the Sun. By the late 1950s, if not earlier, Hughes developed debilitating symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The Moon's orbit around the Earth is inclined at an angle of just over 5 degrees to the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun (the ecliptic). The operation, known as Project Jennifer, became public in February 1975 because burglars had obtained secret documents from Hughes' headquarters in June 1974. The larger light gray area is the penumbra, in which a partial eclipse will be seen.

Two nuclear-tipped torpedoes and some cryptographic machines were recovered, along with the bodies of six Soviet submariners who were subsequently given formal burial at sea in a filmed ceremony. The small area where the umbra touches the Earth's surface is where a total eclipse will be seen. This section is believed to have held many of the most sought after items, including its code book and nuclear missiles. The dark gray region to the right of the moon is the umbra, where the Sun is completely obscured by the Moon. But during the recovery a mechanical failure in the ship's grapple caused half of the submarine to break off and fall to the ocean floor. The diagram to the right shows the alignment of the Sun, Moon and Earth at a solar eclipse. In the summer of 1974 Glomar Explorer attempted to raise the Soviet vessel. For more information on safe eclipse viewing, see:.

Hughes' involvement provided the CIA with a plausible cover story, having to do with civilian marine research at extreme depths, and the mining of undersea manganese nodules. Note that it is never safe to look at an annular or partial eclipse directly, because the Sun's disk is never completely covered during this type of eclipse. Thus the Glomar Explorer, a special-purpose salvage vessel, was born. The exact time and duration of totality for the location from which the eclipse is being observed should be determined from a reliable source (local astronomers, etc.). He agreed. However, it is important to stop directly viewing the Sun promptly at the end of totality. In 1972, Hughes was approached by the CIA to help secretly recover a Soviet submarine which had sunk near Hawaii four years before. The Sun's faint corona will be visible, and even the chromosphere, solar prominences, and possibly even a solar flare may be seen.

During the 1970s, Hughes went back into the airline business, buying airline Air West and renaming it Hughes Airwest. Contrary to popular belief, it is safe to observe the total phase of a total solar eclipse directly with the unaided eye, binoculars or a telescope, when the Sun's photosphere is completely covered by the Moon; indeed, this is a very spectacular and beautiful sight, and it is too dim to be seen through filters. In the same year, TWA's management sued its chairman Hughes because of differences in running the company; he was forced to sell his stock in TWA in 1966 for more than $500 million. These precautions apply to viewing the Sun at any time except during the totality phase of a total solar eclipse (see below). Hughes Space and Communications was founded in 1961. The optical viewfinders provided with some video and digital cameras are not safe. Shortly before the 1960 Presidential election, Richard Nixon was harmed by revelations of a $205,000 loan from Hughes to Nixon's brother that was never repaid. Viewing the Sun's disk on a video display screen (provided by a video camera or digital camera) is safe, although the camera itself may be damaged by direct exposure to the Sun.

On January 12, 1957, Hughes married actress Jean Peters; they divorced in 1971. However, care must be taken to ensure that no one looks through the projector (telescope, pinhole, etc.) directly. It is America's second largest private foundation and the largest devoted to biological and medical research with a 2004 endowment of $12.4 billion. The projected image of the Sun can then be safely viewed; this technique can be used to observe sunspots, as well as eclipses. After his death in 1976, many thought that the balance of Hughes' estate would go to the institute, although it ultimately was divided among his cousins and other heirs, given the lack of a will to the contrary. This can be done by projecting an image of the disk onto a white piece of paper or card using a pair of binoculars (with one of the lenses covered), a telescope, or another piece of cardboard with a small hole in it (about 1 mm diameter), often called a pinhole camera. The deal was the topic of a protracted legal battle between Hughes and the Internal Revenue Service which Hughes ultimately won. The safest way to view the Sun's disk is by indirect projection.

In 1953, Hughes launched the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Delaware, formed with the express goal of basic biomedical research including trying to understand, in Hughes' words, the "genesis of life itself." It was viewed by many as a tax haven for his wealth: Hughes gave all his stock of the Hughes Aircraft Company to the institute, thereby turning the defense contractor into a tax-exempt charity. Only properly designed and certified solar filters should ever be used for direct viewing of the Sun's disk. The remainder of Hughes Aircraft was sold to Raytheon in 1998. Sunglasses are not safe, since they do not block the harmful and invisible infrared radiation which causes retinal damage. Portions of the company wound up with McDonnell Douglas, and eventually Boeing when those two companies merged. The Sun's disk can be viewed using appropriate filtration to block the harmful part of the Sun's radiation. After the war, Hughes fashioned his company Hughes Aircraft into a major defense contractor. Viewing the Sun during partial and annular eclipses (and during total eclipses outside the brief period of totality) requires special eye protection, or indirect viewing methods.

RKO was sold in 1955. Viewing the Sun's disk through any kind of optical aid (binoculars, a telescope, or even an optical camera viewfinder) is even more hazardous, although just viewing it with the naked eye can easily cause damage. He interfered with production and even shut down shooting for weeks or months. Unfortunately, looking at the Sun during an eclipse is just as dangerous as looking at it outside an eclipse, except during the brief period of totality, when the Sun's disk is completely covered (totality occurs only during a total eclipse and only very briefly—it does not occur during a partial or annular eclipse). Hughes acquired RKO in 1948, a struggling major Hollywood studio. However, during an eclipse, with so much of the Sun covered, it is easier and more tempting to stare at it. The plane was on display alongside RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California for many years before being moved to McMinnville, Oregon, where it is now part of the Evergreen Aviation Museum. Under normal conditions, the Sun is so bright that it's difficult to stare at it directly, so there is no tendency to look at it in a way that might damage the eye.

government denied him the use of aircraft aluminum, which had been rationed, Hughes built the plane largely from birch in his Westchester, California facility to fulfill his contract. The retina has no sensitivity to pain, and the effects of retinal damage may not appear for hours, so there is no warning that injury is occurring. Because the U.S. This damage can result in permanent impairment of vision, up to and including blindness. Hughes was called to testify before the Senate War Investigating Committee to explain why the plane had not been delivered to the United States Army Air Forces during the war, but the committee disbanded without releasing a final report. Looking directly at the photosphere of the Sun (the bright disk of the Sun itself), even for just a few seconds, can cause permanent damage to the retina of the eye, because of the intense visible and invisible radiation that the photosphere emits. government for use in World War II, but was not completed until after the war. When the Moon disappears at Full Moon by passing into Earth's shadow, the event is properly called an eclipse, but when the Moon passes in front of the Sun, we see an occultation of the Sun by the Moon.

The plane was originally commissioned by the U.S. Properly speaking, an eclipse occurs when one object passes into the shadow cast by another object. The Hercules flew only once (with Hughes at the controls) on November 2, 1947. The term eclipse is actually a misnomer: The phenomenon of the Moon passing in front of the Sun is actually an occultation. One of his greatest endeavors was the H-4 Hercules, nicknamed the "Spruce Goose" (although its frame was built predominantly of birch), a massive flying boat completed just after the end of World War II. Slightly more annular eclipses than total eclipses occur, because on average the Moon lies too far away from Earth to cover the Sun completely. The trademark mustache he wore after the accident was meant to cover a scar on his upper lip resulting from the accident. Hence the term annular eclipse.

Many attribute his long-term addiction to opiates to his use of morphine as a painkiller during his convalescence. In that case, at the time of greatest eclipse there remains a thin annulus (or ring) of brilliant Sun left uncovered. The injuries he sustained in the crash — including a crushed collar bone, six broken ribs and numerous third-degree burns — affected him for the rest of his life. When a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is at or near apogee, however, it appears smaller, and it cannot cover the Sun completely. Durkin who happened to be in the area. When a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is at or near perigee, it appears large enough to cover the bright disk, or photosphere, of the Sun completely, and a total eclipse occurs. Hughes lay wounded beside the burning airplane until he was rescued by Marine master sergeant William L. The furthest point in the orbit is referred to as apogee, and the closest point is called perigee.

When the plane finally skidded to a halt after mowing down three houses, the fuel tanks exploded, setting fire to the plane and a nearby home. Because the Moon's orbit around Earth is an ellipse rather than a circle, however, at some times during the month the Moon is further away, and at other times it is closer to Earth, than average. Hughes tried to save the craft by landing it on the Los Angeles Country Club golf course, but seconds before he reached his attempted destination the plane started dropping dramatically and crashed in the Beverly Hills neighborhood surrounding the country club. As seen from Earth, therefore, the Sun and the Moon appear to be about the same size in the sky - about 1/2 of a degree in angular measure. An oil leak caused one of the counter-rotating propellers to reverse its thrust, making the plane yaw sharply. One of the most remarkable co-incidences in nature is that (i) the Sun lies about 400 times as far from Earth as does the Moon, and (ii) the Sun is also about 400 times the diameter of the Moon. Army spy plane XF-11 over Los Angeles. The reason why some solar eclipses are total and others are annular has to do with the elliptical nature of the Moon's orbit around Earth.

Hughes was involved in a near-fatal aircraft accident on July 7, 1946, while piloting the experimental U.S. There are four types of solar eclipses:. The airline would grow significantly under his leadership. . In particular, Hughes helped specify the design of the Lockheed Constellation, with its pressurized cabin and distinctive tail, buying several planes for TWA in order to be able to fly high altitude (20,000 ft/6600 m) long distance routes above the turbulence of low altitude weather. A total solar eclipse is considered by many to be the most spectacular natural phenomenon that one can observe. Throughout the 1940s and into the 1950s, T&WA (which became Trans World Airlines) continued to bet on the most advanced planes available, largely due to Hughes' own interest in aircraft development. This configuration can only occur at New Moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction, as seen from Earth.

By doing so, Hughes became the principal stockholder of T&WA in April 1939. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes in front of the Sun and obscures it totally or partially. He convinced Hughes, also enamored of avant-garde aircraft technology, to finance this purchase. February 16, 1980: Launch of rockets from San Marco platform. In 1938, William John Frye, a former Hollywood stunt flier and the first director of operations of Transcontinental and Western Air (T&WA), put in an order for the new 33-passenger Boeing 307 Stratoliner, the first commercial plane with a pressurized passenger cabin. February 26, 1979: Launch of rockets from Red Lake, Canada. Truman. November 12, 1966: Launch of two Titus-rockets fom Las Palmas, Argentina.

According to his obituary in the New York Times, he never bothered to come to Washington to pick up the medal, and it was eventually mailed to him by President Harry S. May 20, 1966: Launch of rockets at Karystos, Greece to watch the solar eclipse. Hughes received many awards as an aviator, including the Harmon Trophy in 1936 and 1938, the Collier Trophy in 1939, the Octave Chanute Award in 1940, and a special Congressional medal for his round-the-world flight. May 30, 1965: Launch of rockets at Charlestown, USA. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, known at the time as Houston Municipal Airport, was re-named "Howard Hughes Airport," but the name was changed back after people objected to naming the airport after a living person. MacRobert, Sky & Telescope magazine. In 1938, the William P. How to Watch a Partial Solar Eclipse Safely, Alan M.

For this flight he did not fly a plane of his own design but a Lockheed Super Electra (a twin engine plane with a four man crew). Eye Safety During Solar Eclipses, Fred Espenak, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. On July 10, 1938 Hughes set another record by completing a flight around the world in just 91 hours (3 days, 19 hours), beating the previous record by more than four days. However, some eclipses can only be seen as a partial eclipse, because the central line never intersects the Earth's surface. The H-1 Racer influenced the design of a number of World War II fighter airplanes such as the Mitsubishi Zero, the Focke-Wulf FW190, and the F6F Hellcat.(see Wright Tools web site.) The H-1 Racer was donated to the Smithsonian in 1975 and is on display at the National Air and Space Museum. This phenomenon can usually be seen from a large part of the Earth outside of the track of a central eclipse. The H-1 Racer featured a number of design innovations: It had retractable landing gear and all rivets and joints set flush into the body of the plane, to reduce drag. A partial eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are not exactly in line, and the Moon only partially obscures the Sun.

[1]. The generic term for a total, annular or hybrid eclipse is a central eclipse. His average speed over the flight was 322 mph (515 km/h). At some points on the Earth it is visible as a total eclipse; whereas at others it is annular. A year and a half later (January 19, 1937), flying a somewhat re-designed H-1 Racer, Hughes set a new trans-continental speed record by flying non-stop from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds (beating his own previous record of 9 hours, 27 minutes). A hybrid eclipse is intermediate between a total and annular eclipse. (The previous record was 314 mph (502 km/h). Hence the Sun appears as a very bright ring surrounding the outline of the Moon.

On September 13, 1935, Hughes, flying the H-1, set the world speed record of 352 mph (588 km/h) over his test course near Santa Ana, California. An annular eclipse occurs when the Sun and Moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun. The most important aircraft he designed was the Hughes H-1 Racer. During any one eclipse, a total eclipse is visible only from a fairly narrow track on the surface of the Earth. He set many world records, and designed and built several aircraft himself while heading Hughes Aircraft. The intensely bright disk of the Sun is replaced by the dark outline of the Moon, and the much fainter corona is visible (see image right). Hughes was a lifelong aircraft enthusiast, pilot, and self-taught aircraft engineer. A total eclipse occurs when the Sun is completely obscured by the Moon.

Less-significant affairs are rumored to have occurred between Hughes and a long list of celebrities. Jean Harlow accompanied him to the premiere of Hell's Angels, although it's uncertain if they were an item. Bessie Love was a mistress during his first marriage. Hughes was a notorious ladies' man, and allegedly had affairs with many famous women including Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Gene Tierney, and Ava Gardner.

Greta Keller, Vienna-born cabaret singer and actress and Bacon's widow, claimed later that Bacon wanted to get out of his contract with Hughes and had been prepared to reveal intimate details about their relationship in order to secure a release from the studio. Bacon's murder the following year sparked an investigation which brought to light allegations of a supposed sexual affair between Bacon and Hughes which may have indirectly led to Bacon's death. He signed an unknown actor David Bacon in 1932 to play Billy The Kid. Scarface and The Outlaw received attention from industry censors; Scarface for its violence, The Outlaw for Russell's physical charms.

Hughes's best-known film may be The Outlaw starring Jane Russell, for whom Hughes designed a special brassière. He spent a then-unheard-of $4 million of his own money to make Hell's Angels, which he wrote and directed and which became a smash hit, along with his 1932 film Scarface (which he produced). The Racket in 1928 and The Front Page in 1931 were nominated for Academy Awards. However, his first two films released in 1927, Everybody's Acting and Two Arabian Knights were financial successes, the latter winning an Academy Award for Best Director of a Comedy Picture.

He was at first dismissed by Hollywood insiders as a rich man's son. Hughes used his fortune to become a movie producer. He then enrolled at the Rice Institute (later known as Rice University). His father subsequently arranged for him to audit math and engineering classes at the California Institute of Technology.

He attended the Fessenden School in West Newton, Massachusetts (near Boston), and the Thacher School in Ojai, California. Despite attending many good schools, he never earned a diploma. As a teenager, Hughes declared that his goals in life were to become the world's best golfer, the world's best pilot, and the world's best movie producer. He founded Hughes Tool Company to commercialize this invention.

Hughes Sr., who invented the dual cone roller bit, which allowed rotary drilling for oil in previously inaccessible places. His parents were Allene Gano Hughes and Howard R. Hughes was born in Houston, Texas, USA, on December 24, 1905. .

. He is famous for building the Hercules airplane, commonly known as the Spruce Goose, and for his debilitating eccentric behavior later in life. Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was at times an aviator, an engineer, an industrialist, a movie producer, a playboy, an eccentric and one of the wealthiest people in the world. The cello trio Rasputina wrote a song "Howard Hughes" which was included in their CD Thanks For The Ether; lead singer Melora Creager has an ongoing preoccupation with Hughes (see [4]).

The British punk rock band The Tights wrote a song "Howard Hughes" which was the title track of their "Howard Hughes" single. "Aint No Fun (Waiting Round To Be A Millionare)" by AC/DC contains lyrics at the end "Hey Howard, get your fuckin' jumbo jet off my airport!". "My shoes, they once were worn by Howard Hughes" from My Place a song by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics on his album Sly-Fi. Gary Numan said the suited visage he used for the "Dance" and "I,Assassin" albums were patterned in part after Howard Hughes, whom he identified as one of his heroes.

An alternative recording was made for the John Peel show and released in 1995 on their "John Peel Sessions" album. Industrial outfit 70 Gwen Party released a 1994 single called "Howard Hughes" on Snape records (cat no SR011). Stan Ridgway's 1991 song "I Wanna Be a Boss" contains a reference to Howard Hughes as a role model for those who aspire to be eccentric, reclusive billionaires. Jim claims he is an undiscovered Howard Hughes.

Jim Croce's song "Workin' at the Carwash Blues" contains a Howard Hughes reference. 1970s Christian rocker Larry Norman's song "Without Love" contains a reference to Howard Hughes. Sole, a notoriously anti-capitalist rapper, had a song titled "MC Howard Hughes" on his album Bottle of Humans. 10cc namecheck Hughes in the hit song "Wall Street Shuffle", with the line "Oh, Howard Hughes, did your money make you better?".

John Hartford's 1972 album Morning Bugle includes the song "Howard Hughes Blues" which describes his solitary life of "poor old Howard Hughes and all of his blues". The final verse mentioned, "Often heard, seldom seen, Bargain Basement Howard Hughes, Hermit phase, a woodshed rage, these days headlines are few." Cantrell also made another Hughes/Staley reference on the Degradation Trip song "Pig Charmer" particuarly with the line: "Come on in, get high / Don't mind piss-filled bottles.". However, the song is actually about his former Alice in Chains bandmate Layne Staley. Jerry Cantrell, on the album Degradation Trip, wrote a song titled "Bargain Basement Howard Hughes".

The song "Reward" by British band The Teardrop Explodes includes the line "Live in solitude like Howard Hughes". The British shoegazer band Ride mentioned Howard Hughes in their song "Castle on the Hill"[3] In addition, they have a song titled "Howard Hughes" on their 1992 CD single Twisterella. The British progressive rock band Genesis mentioned "Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes" in their song "Broadway Melody of 1974", part of the album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. It was originally on their album Point of Know Return.

The band Kansas did a song about Howard Hughes, which they named "Closet Chronicles". The Boomtown Rats released the song "Me And Howard Hughes" on their record Tonic For The Troops in 1978. Leadbelly composed a folksong, "Howard Hughes", which accompanies the final credits of the film The Aviator. Portrayed by Terry O'Quinn in Disney's "The Rocketeer" (1991).

The fictional Derwent was a millionaire aviator and producer during the 1930's and 40's, and even takes credit for the design of a strapless bra worn in one of his movies. The character of Horace Derwent in Stephen King's The Shining is partially based on Hughes. One character (Andrea) likens Hughes to 'a proto-Virek'. In William Gibson's seminal science fiction novel Count Zero the key villain, industrialist Josef Virek, is identified with Hughes with respect to his wealth and reclusive nature.

Incidentally, a 1982 production of this play in London landed actor Ian McDiarmid the role of Palpatine in the Star Wars films, as it showed that the then 37-year old actor could convincingly play much older characters. The Sam Shepard play Seduced features a character named Harry Hackamore, modeled after Hughes. Melvin and Howard was spoofed on the sketch comedy series SCTV.. The film introduces Hughes as a potential investor of Tucker's automobile line, although such claims are unsubstantiated.

Dean Stockwell plays Hughes in the Francis Ford Coppola's biopic of automaker Preston Tucker, Tucker: The Man and His Dream. Steven Carter's novel I was Howard Hughes is a "picture of a Hughes who might have been.". Hughes appears in James Ellroy's political crime novel American Tabloid, and sequel The Cold Six Thousand. Saturday Night Live presented a comedy sketch portraying Hughes and his eccentric activities.

Hughes appears in an episode of the TV Series Dark Skies. Hughes makes an appearance in The Rocketeer, substituting for the "mystery inventor" (Doc Savage) in the original comic book version. "Howard Lockwood" in the Lupin III film Mystery of Mamo. "Jonas Cord" in Harold Robbins' novel The Carpetbaggers.

Hadden" of the Carl Sagan novel Contact, and the 1997 Robert Zemeckis film of the same name. "S.R. In The Disney Afternoon's TaleSpin, the characters join a group of businessmen for a dinner on the main deck of the moosehead-shaped seaplane, the "Spruce Moose", built by a reclusive hippopotamus with Hughes's characteristic mannerisms. The Simpsons episode "$pringfield" in which Montgomery Burns exhibits Hughes's OCD, including wearing tissue boxes on his feet, moving into a hotel penthouse, allowing his hair and nails to grow untrimmed, and creating an aircraft called the "Spruce Moose.".

Tony Stark, a wealthy inventor and industrialist who becomes Marvel Comics's Iron Man. "Willard Whyte" of the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. This character was based on a composite of Howard Hughes and William Randolph Hearst. "Charles Foster Kane" of the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane.

The film focuses primarily on Hughes's achievements in aviation and in the movies and on the increasing handicap his obsessive-compulsive behavior represented in his 30s and onwards. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and winning five, the film takes the usual bio-pic liberties (Ella Rice is not seen or mentioned although Hughes was married to her during the making of "Hell's Angels"). The Aviator (2004), directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes. Graham and starring Tommy Lee Jones as Howard Hughes.

The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977), directed by William A. Ron Kistler - "I caught flies for Howard Hughes", Playboy Press (1976), ISBN 0872234479. Jack Real - "The Asylum of Howard Hughes", Xlibris Corporation (2003), ISBN 1413408753. Random House (1976).

James Phelan - "Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years". General Publishing Group (1996). Terry Moore and Jerry Rivers - The Passions of Howard Hughes. Terry Moore - The Beauty and the Billionaire, New York (1984).

Steele - Empire: The Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes (1979) ISBN 0393075133 Republished in 2003 as Howard Hughes: His life and madness. Barlett and James B. Donald L. Michael Drosnin - Citizen Hughes: In his own words, how Howard Hughes tried to buy America, Broadway Books.

Robert Maheu and Richard Hack - Next to Hughes: Behind the power and tragic downfall of Howard Hughes by his closest adviser, HarperCollins (1992). Peter Harry Brown and Pat H Broeske - Howard Hughes: The untold story, Time Warner Paperbacks. Richard Hack - Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters : The Definitive Biography of the First American Billionaire (2002) ISBN 1893224643. Marrett - Howard Hughes: Aviator (2004) ISBN 1591145104, Naval Institute Press.

George J.