Howard Hughes

The following fictional characters appear to have been, at least in part, patterned after Hughes:. The Vatican (which has its own country code, .va) has an official website, radio station, and satellite TV channels. 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. The reason for this is that this enables mail to be sent directly to the Vatican - otherwise it would go through the postal systems of other countries, which would cause a delay in shipment to the Vatican. 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. People sending mail to the Vatican are adivsed to not write anything other than Vatican City State for the destination on the envelope. Suits brought by the states of California and Texas claiming they were owed inheritance tax were both rejected by the court. A bit of conventional wisdom in Rome is that international mail dropped in a mailbox in the Vatican will reach its destination more quickly than one dropped only a few hundred metres away in an Italian mailbox.

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. The City is served by an independent, modern telephone system and post office. The U.S. A newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, publishes daily in Italian, weekly in English, Spanish, French, German, and Portuguese, and monthly in Polish. 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 railway is used only to transport freight. The location where Dummar claimed to have picked up Hughes is 6 miles south of the Cottontail Ranch. There is one heliport and a 852 m (932 yd) standard gauge (1435 mm) railway that connects to Italy's network at Rome's Saint Peter's station.

Howard Harrell stated that he convinced his wife not to come forward during the trial since it might bring unwanted publicity. The Vatican City has no airports. 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. Normally, for civil offenses the Italian courts will handle the disposition of these cases. Howard Harrell stated that his wife had told him of Hughes' visits to the Cottontail Ranch. The perpetrators, who are also visitors, are rarely caught, with 90% of crimes remaining unsolved. The third witness is Howard Harrell, the widower of Madam Beverly Harrell, who ran the Cottontail Ranch in 1967. Each year, hundreds of tourists fall victim to pickpockets and purse snatchers.

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. In his 2002 report to the pontifical court, Chief Prosecutor Nicola Picardi quoted statistics of 87.2% for civil offences, and 133.6% for penal offences. While waiting for Hughes, Deiro fell asleep and later awoke only to learn that Hughes had left the Cottontail Ranch a few hours earlier. As a result of the Vatican having a small resident population, but millions of visitors every year, the state has the highest per capita crime rate of any nation on earth, more than twenty times higher than Italy. 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. The Pope leads weekly mass and other services, and appears on religious holidays such as Easter. 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. Tourism is an important factor in the daily life of the Vatican.

Agent Gary Magnesen, supports Dummar's claims and brings to light three new witnesses. Citizenship can be achieved by stable residence and by holding an office or job within the city. A 2005 book titled "The Investigation", written by retired F.B.I. Clothes that show the legs above the knees are strictly banned. Melvin and Howard starring Jason Robards and Paul Le Mat is based on Dummar's tale. Men, and especially women, must adhere to strict dress codes. The estate was eventually split between 22 cousins in 1983. Many workers in the Vatican City live outside its walls, including the Swiss Guard and embassy personnel.

The Mormon Will was one of 40 "wills" filed by 400 people claiming to be Hughes's heirs. A minority are senior Catholic clergy; the remainder are members of religious orders. He claimed a "mysterious man" gave him a document with instructions to deposit it at the LDS office. The permanent population of the Vatican City is predominately male, although two orders of nuns live in the Vatican. After saying he knew nothing about the Mormon Will, mounting evidence forced Dummar to admit that he lied. The Vatican Library and the collections of the Vatican Museums are of the highest historical, scientific and cultural importance. The court also declared Hughes died intestate. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel are home to some of the most beautiful art in the world, which includes works by artists such as Botticelli, Bernini and Michelangelo.

The Mormon Will was rejected by a Nevada court in June 1978 as a forgery. Buildings such as St. Dropping him off at the Sands Hotel, Dummar said the man told him he was Hughes. The Vatican City is itself of great cultural significance. The man asked for a ride to Las Vegas. Due to the very limited territory of the Vatican state, foreign embassies to the Holy See are located in the Italian part of Rome; Italy actually hosts its own Embassy of Italy. Highway 95, 150 miles (250 kilometers) north of Las Vegas. However, it is the Holy See that is the legal body that conducts diplomatic relations for the Vatican City in addition to the Holy See's usual diplomacy, entering into international agreements and both receives and sends diplomatic representatives.

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. Providing a territorial identity for the Holy See, the State of the Vatican City is a recognized national territory under international law. The "Mormon Will" gave a gas-station owner named Melvin Dummar a 1/16th share of Hughes's $2 billion estate. Most Italians employed in the Vatican do not have Vatican citizenship. 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. Nearly all these people were dual citizens, retaining citizenship of their own countries while working at the Vatican. Speculation became rampant that he may have written a holographic will. At the end of 2003, 552 persons held Vatican citizenship, of whom 61 were cardinals, 346 were other clergy, 101 members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard and 44 were other lay persons.

After Hughes' death, an intensive search began for his will, but one could not be found. A separate Vatican City citizenship exists, enabling Vatican officials to travel on Vatican passports, and giving them diplomatic status in countries to which they are accredited. 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. German is the official language of the Swiss Guard. Howard Hughes is interred in the Glenwood Cemetery in Houston. Italian and, to a lesser extent, other languages are generally used for most conversations, publications, and broadcasts. 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. The official language is Latin, the lingua franca of the Roman Empire, which has remained in use in the Roman Catholic Church.

A subsequent autopsy determined kidney failure as the cause of death. There are also about 3,000 lay workers who comprise the majority of the Vatican work force, but who reside outside the Vatican. Years of severe self-neglect had made him practically unrecognizable, and the FBI had to resort to fingerprint identification to identify the body. The Vatican citizenry consists mainly of clergy, including high dignitaries, priests, nuns, as well as the famous Swiss Guard, a volunteer military force. 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. Almost all of Vatican City's 921 citizens live inside the Vatican's walls. Irving later spent fourteen months in jail. It has its own bank, Vatican Bank.

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. Vatican City has used the Euro as its currency since January 1, 2002. 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. The incomes and living standards of lay workers are comparable to, or somewhat better than, those of counterparts who work in the city of Rome. In 1972, author Clifford Irving created a media sensation when he claimed to have co-written an authorized autobiography of Howard Hughes. This unique, non-commercial economy is also supported financially by contributions (known as Peter's Pence) from Catholics throughout the world, the sale of postage stamps and tourist mementos, fees for admission to museums, and the sale of publications. 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). Industries: printing and production of few mosaics and staff uniforms; worldwide banking and financial activities.

According to some Watergate historians, the infamous 1972 burglary of Democratic headquarters in Washington, D.C. Budget: Revenues (2003) $252 million; expenditures (2003) $264 million. She would state only that she had not seen Hughes for several years before their divorce. There are some local features, principally mists and dews, caused by the anomalous bulk of St Peter's Basilica, the elevation, the fountains and the size of the large paved square. Peters refused to discuss her life with Hughes, and declined several lucrative offers from big-name publishers and biographers. Its climate is clearly mostly the same as Rome's; a temperate, Mediterranean climate with mild, rainy winters from September to mid-May and hot, dry summers from May to August. 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. It is the smallest sovereign state in the world at 0.44 km² (108.7 acres).

She agreed to a lifetime alimony payment of $70,000 a year, adjusted for inflation, and waived all claims to Hughes' estate. Peter's Basilica, where the correct border is just outside the ellipse formed by Bernini's colonnade. In 1971, he divorced Jean Peters; they had been living apart for several years. Peter's Square in front of the St. Many of the hotels in which he stayed were forced to undergo major renovations to repair the damage Hughes had caused to the premises. The situation is more complex at the famous St. 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. Its borders (3.2km in total, all with Italy) closely follow the city wall constructed to protect the Pope from outside attack.

His aides never offered the bribes, reporting to Hughes that Johnson had declined the offer, and that they had been unable to contact Nixon. The Vatican City, one of the European microstates, is situated on the Vatican Hill in the north-western part of Rome, several hundred metres west of the Tiber river, on the latter's right bank. 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). It is published by Catholic laymen but carries official information. He even once ordered his aides to offer $1 million each to presidents Lyndon B. L'Osservatore Romano is the semi-official newspaper, published daily in Italian, and weekly in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and French (plus a monthly edition in Polish). 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. Radio Vatican, the official radio station, is one of the most influential in Europe.

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. The Vatican also issues its own coins and stamps and controls its own Internet domain (.va). 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. Vatican City has its own post office, commissary (supermarket), bank (the automatic teller machines are the only ones in the world to use Latin), railway station, electricity generating plant, and publishing house. 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 legal system is based on canon, or ecclesiastical, law; if canon law is not applicable, special laws of the territory apply, often modelled on Italian provisions. In addition to supervising day-to-day business operations, they also went to great pains to satisfy Hughes's every bizarre whim. The judicial functions are handled by three tribunals — the Apostolic Signatura, the Sacra Rota Romana, and the Apostolic Penitentiary, which are also the judicial arm of the Holy See (see below).

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. Members are cardinals appointed by the pope for terms of five years. 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. Legislative power is vested in the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, led by a President. 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. They are not really an army of the Vatican City State so much as a police force and the personal bodyguard of the Pope. 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. The Vatican City maintains a modern security corps, the famous Swiss Guards, a voluntary military force drawn from male Swiss citizens.

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 Governor of Vatican City, sometime known as the President of Vatican City, has duties similar to those of a mayor or city executive, concentrating on material questions concerning the state's territory, including local security, but excluding external relations. (In the film The Aviator (2004), this incident is depicted as his response to his breakup with Katharine Hepburn. All decisions of these commissions must be approved by the College of Cardinals. His syphilis was also indirectly responsible for a bizarre episode in which Hughes burned all his clothes. During a sede vacante (papal vacancy), the Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church, former Secretary of State, and former President of the Pontifical Commission form a commission that performs some of the functions of the head of state; while another made up of the Chamberlain and three cardinals (one being chosen by lot every three days from each order of cardinals), performs other functions of the head of state. 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. These, like all other officials, are appointed by the Pope and can be dismissed by him at any time.

The condition first manifested itself in the form of tiny blisters that erupted on his hands. As noted, the principal figures are the Secretary of State, the President of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State, and the Governor of Vatican City. 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. For historical reasons, the government of Vatican City has a unique structure. He insisted on using paper towels to pick up objects, that he could insulate himself from germs. In 1984, a new concordat between the Holy See and Italy modified certain provisions of the earlier treaty, including the position of Catholicism as the Italian state religion. 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. The Lateran is on one of the seven hills of Rome, the Caelian.

Hughes by this time had become severely addicted to codeine, valium, and a number of other painkillers and was becoming increasingly frail. The cathedra (official seat) of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, is in the Lateran basilica, Rome's cathedral. 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]. This situation was resolved on February 11, 1929 under the premiership of Mussolini by the three Lateran treaties, which established the independent State of the Vatican City and granted Catholicism special status in Italy. Several doctors were kept in the house on a substantial salary, though Hughes rarely saw them and usually refused to follow their advice. During this period it became fashionable to speak of the Pope as a "prisoner". Though he always kept a barber on call, Hughes only had his hair cut and nails trimmed about once a year. Other states maintained international recognition of the Holy See as a sovereign entity, and in practice Italy made no attempt to interfere with the Holy See.

Hughes eventually became a complete recluse, locking himself away in darkened rooms in a drug-induced daze. The popes were left between 1870 and 1929 in a situation somewhat like that of the last emperor of China, undisturbed in their palace, but with no official status recognized by the Italian State. He was reportedly so concerned by the matter as to write a detailed memorandum to the film crew on how to fix the problem. In 1870, the Pope's holdings were left in an uncertain situation when Rome itself was annexed by the Piedmontese after a nominal resistance of the papal forces. 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. For much of this time the Vatican was not the habitual residence of the Popes, but rather the Lateran Palace, and in recent centuries, the Quirinal Palace, while the residence from 1309-1377 was at Avignon in France. 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. Popes in their secular role gradually came to govern neighbouring regions and, through the Papal States, ruled a large portion of the Italian peninsula for more than a thousand years until the mid 19th century, when most of the territory of the Papal States was seized by the newly created Kingdom of Italy.

He was reported at different times to be terminally ill, mentally unstable, or possibly dead. In 326 the first church, Constantine's basilica, was built over the site of the tomb of Saint Peter, who was buried in a common cemetery on the spot, and from then on the area started to become more populated, but mostly only by dwelling houses connected with the activity of St Peter's. 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. It is supposed that this originally uninhabited part of Rome (the ager vaticanus) had always been considered sacred, or at least not available for habitation, even before the arrival of Christianity. By the late 1950s, if not earlier, Hughes developed debilitating symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Sodano and Szoka served in their respective roles under Pope John Paul II and were then reappointed to those same roles by his successor. The operation, known as Project Jennifer, became public in February 1975 because burglars had obtained secret documents from Hughes' headquarters in June 1974. Edmund Cardinal Szoka serves as both the President of the Pontifical Commission and Governor, born an American of Polish descent.

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. Angelo Cardinal Sodano of Italy is the Secretary of State. This section is believed to have held many of the most sought after items, including its code book and nuclear missiles. The current pope is Benedict XVI, born Joseph Ratzinger in Germany. 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. His principal subordinate government officials are the Secretary of State, the President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, and the Governor of Vatican City. In the summer of 1974 Glomar Explorer attempted to raise the Soviet vessel. The sovereign is elected for a life term in conclave by cardinals under the age of 80.

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. This is a non-hereditary elective monarchy with a sovereign who exercises absolute authority, that is to say supreme legislative, executive and judicial power not only over Vatican City State but also constituting the Holy See. Thus the Glomar Explorer, a special-purpose salvage vessel, was born. The Head of State is the Pope, who as the supreme executive, legislative, and judicial authority is also the Head of Government. He agreed. Peter's Square is ordinarily policed jointly by both. In 1972, Hughes was approached by the CIA to help secretly recover a Soviet submarine which had sunk near Hawaii four years before. St.

During the 1970s, Hughes went back into the airline business, buying airline Air West and renaming it Hughes Airwest. Castelgandolfo and the named basilicas are patrolled internally by police agents of the Vatican City State and not by Italian police. 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. Mary Major and of St Paul Outside the Walls, and a number of other buildings in Rome. Hughes Space and Communications was founded in 1961. These include the papal summer residence of Castelgandolfo in the nearby hills, the Lateran Basilica, the basilicas of St. 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. Although technically not included within the territory of the Vatican City State, according to the Lateran Treaties, certain properties of the Holy See, although not being part of the territory of the City State, have an extraterritorial status similar to that of foreign embassies.

On January 12, 1957, Hughes married actress Jean Peters; they divorced in 1971. Peter's Square, which it was not possible to isolate from the rest of Rome and therefore a largely imaginary border with Italy runs along the outer limit of the square where it touches on Piazza Pio XII and Via Paolo VI. 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 territory included St. 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. For some tracts of the frontier there was no wall, but the line of certain buildings supplied part of the boundary, and for a small part of the frontier a modern wall was constructed. The deal was the topic of a protracted legal battle between Hughes and the Internal Revenue Service which Hughes ultimately won. When the 1929 Lateran Treaty that gave the state its present form was being prepared, the fact that a good part of the proposed territory was all but enclosed by this loop led to the present territorial definition being adopted.

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. It was thus an outcrop of the city and was protected by being included in a loop of the city wall. The remainder of Hughes Aircraft was sold to Raytheon in 1998. The area was never fully incorporated into the urban conglomeration of Rome until the last century, being separated from the city by the river Tiber. Portions of the company wound up with McDonnell Douglas, and eventually Boeing when those two companies merged. Peter's Basilica, the residence of the popes called the Apostolic Palace, with its Sistine Chapel, and museums were built, along with various other buildings. After the war, Hughes fashioned his company Hughes Aircraft into a major defense contractor. It is part of the Mons Vaticanus, and of the adjacent former Vatican Fields upon which St.

RKO was sold in 1955. The placename is ancient and predates Christianity, coming from the Latin Mons Vaticanus, Vatican Hill. He interfered with production and even shut down shooting for weeks or months. . Hughes acquired RKO in 1948, a struggling major Hollywood studio. Thus, although the principal ecclesiastical seat of the Holy See (Saint John Lateran) is located in Rome itself, the Vatican City can be said to be the governmental capital of the Roman Catholic Church of both East and West. 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. It is the sovereign territory of the Holy See and the location of the Apostolic Palace—the Pope's official residence—and the Roman Curia.

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. It is the smallest independent nation state in the world in terms of area and population (that is, if that of the Knights of Malta is not counted as a country). Because the U.S. Since it is governed by the Bishop of Rome (aka the Pope), its government can be described as ecclesiastical and the highest state functionaries are in fact clergymen. 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. The entire country is about 0.2 square miles. government for use in World War II, but was not completed until after the war. Vatican City — formally State of the Vatican City, or Vatican City State (Italian: Stato della Città del Vaticano, Latin: Status Civitatis Vaticanae) — is a tiny sovereign state whose territory consists of a landlocked enclave within the city of Rome, Italy.

The plane was originally commissioned by the U.S. The Hercules flew only once (with Hughes at the controls) on November 2, 1947. 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. The trademark mustache he wore after the accident was meant to cover a scar on his upper lip resulting from the accident.

Many attribute his long-term addiction to opiates to his use of morphine as a painkiller during his convalescence. 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. Durkin who happened to be in the area. Hughes lay wounded beside the burning airplane until he was rescued by Marine master sergeant William L.

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. 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. An oil leak caused one of the counter-rotating propellers to reverse its thrust, making the plane yaw sharply. Army spy plane XF-11 over Los Angeles.

Hughes was involved in a near-fatal aircraft accident on July 7, 1946, while piloting the experimental U.S. 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. 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.

By doing so, Hughes became the principal stockholder of T&WA in April 1939. He convinced Hughes, also enamored of avant-garde aircraft technology, to finance this purchase. 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. Truman.

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. 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. 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. In 1938, the William P.

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). 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. 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. 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.

[1]. His average speed over the flight was 322 mph (515 km/h). 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). (The previous record was 314 mph (502 km/h).

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. The most important aircraft he designed was the Hughes H-1 Racer. He set many world records, and designed and built several aircraft himself while heading Hughes Aircraft. Hughes was a lifelong aircraft enthusiast, pilot, and self-taught aircraft engineer.

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.