Howard Hughes
Aviator, filmmaker, and business magnate who shaped aviation and Hollywood.
Acme Newspictures · via Wikipedia: Howard Hughes · Public domain
The U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission account describes him as one of America’s most famous billionaires and a major aviation innovator.[1] Born on December 24, 1905, Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was an American business magnate, aviator, aerospace engineer, film producer, and investor whose death from kidney failure occurred on April 5, 1976.[2][3] Throughout his life, Hughes ranked among the globe's most wealthy and powerful individuals.[2]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Howard Robard Hughes Jr.
- Born
- 24 December 1905
- Birthplace
- Houston, Texas, US
- Died
- 5 April 1976
- Resting place
- Glenwood Cemetery
- Education
- California Institute of Technology, Rice University (dropped out in 1924)
- Occupation
- Aviator
- aerospace engineer
- business magnate
- film producer
- investor
- philanthropist
- Years active
- 1926–1976
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Hughes was the only child of Allene Stone Gano and Howard R. Hughes Sr., a successful inventor and businessman from Missouri.[4] After his mother died in 1922 and his father died of a heart attack in 1924, Hughes inherited 75% of the family fortune and was declared an emancipated minor on his 19th birthday.[5] He moved to Los Angeles to pursue becoming a famous movie producer and the world’s best pilot, according to the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission.[1] In 1932, he founded Hughes Aircraft Company and set multiple world air speed records, including flying the H-1 Racer to 352 mph on September 13, 1935.[6][1]
On July 14, 1938, Hughes completed a flight around the world in 91 hours, beating the previous record by almost four days.[7] Beginning in the late 1920s, Hughes achieved fame in Hollywood by creating expensive and frequently contentious motion pictures, including The Racket (1928), Hell's Angels (1930), and Scarface (1932).[8] Trans World Airlines was purchased and grown by Hughes; later, Air West was bought and rebranded as Hughes Airwest.[9] By purchasing 929,000 shares from Floyd Odlum's Atlas Corporation for $8,825,000 in 1948, Hughes took control of the struggling RKO studio.[10]
What the cited sources add
The same source states that Hughes created the Hughes Aircraft Company in Glendale, California in 1932, initially consisting of his own small team of designers and mechanics.[1] According to the U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, Hughes captured his first aviation prize at the All-American Air Meet in Miami on January 14, 1934, averaging 185 mph over a 20-mile racecourse.[1] The Las Vegas Review-Journal article reports that in 1952, Hughes bought a 30,000-acre parcel along the western rim of the Las Vegas Valley for $3 an acre.[11] The same article states that Nevada gaming authorities welcomed Hughes’ involvement because it counteracted the image that the Mafia dominated the gambling industry.[11]
The Las Vegas Review-Journal also notes that by the early 1970s, Hughes had become the largest single landholder in Nevada.[11]
References
- Onkst, David H. "Howard R. Hughes Jr. – The Record Setter." U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission, 2003. Retrieved: January 5, 2008.. facts only, no text reused. centennialofflight.net
- Wikipedia, "Howard Hughes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Howard R. Hughes", Howard R. Hughes College of Engineering, University of Nevada Las Vegas, July 20, 2011 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Howard Hughes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Howard Hughes, Our Company, History", Howard Hughes Company (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Howard Hughes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Barlett Steele 2004, p. 15; Barlett Steele 2004, p. 15; "Family relationship of Howard Hughes and Orville Wright via Daniel Gano.", famouskin.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Howard Hughes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Howard Hughes." about.com. Retrieved: January 5, 2008.; "Golf's Bizarre Billionaire." golfonline.com. Retrieved: September 4, 2007. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Howard Hughes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Rumerman, Judy. "Hughes Aircraft." centennialofflight.net, 2003. Retrieved: August 5, 2008.; Dietrich, "Howard, The Amazing Mr. Hughes", Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1972, p. 34, 69 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Howard Hughes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Wild welcome for Howard Hughes after world record flight – archive, 1938", The Guardian, July 15, 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Howard Hughes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Racket (1928)", Turner Classic Movies; "Hell's Angels", Turner Classic Movies (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Howard Hughes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "51 Heroes of Aviation". Flying. Retrieved December 27, 2014. . (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Howard Hughes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dietrich, "Howard, The Amazing Mr. Hughes", Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1972, p. 34, 69 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Blennerhassett, "What is the real history of Summerlin? Developer unveils archives", Las Vegas Review-Journal, September 25, 2023. facts only, no text reused. reviewjournal.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Howard Hughes (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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