Places Hollywood Subplots Diana: romance Scenarios Powers of Dr Remoux Havok in Honululu Bring It Back Alive R'lyeth Rising Roerich Tales Gitmo Pirates Prototype Rex

Craft

Bloodhawk

Background

Based on information from Encarta Encyclopedia

http://encarta.msn.com/

Hughes, Howard Robard (born 1905), Hollywood industrialist, aviator, and motion-picture producer. Hughes's enormous wealth, intellect, and achievement makes him one of the most famous men in Disunited America.

II. Early Years:

Born in Houston, Texas, Hughes was the only child of Howard Robard Hughes, Sr., and his wife, Allene Gano Hughes. He grew up amid great wealth and privilege due to his father's successful business, the Hughes Tool Company. The company had been founded in the early 1900s after his father and a partner received patents for a revolutionary oil-drill bit.

As a child, Hughes showed great aptitude in engineering. At age 11, he erected Houston's first wireless broadcast set, a communications system that used radio waves to transmit signals and messages across distances. He took his first flying lessons at age 14, establishing his lifelong love of flight.

When he was 16 years old, Hughes's mother died. Shortly afterward, his father took him to Hollywood, California, and introduced him to show business. Hughes decided then that he wanted to get into the movie industry. When his father died two years later, he inherited the Hughes Tool Company. Hughes soon hired others to oversee the company so he could pursue a career in film.

III. Hollywood:

The success of his father's tool company enabled Hughes to finance his own movies. Despite the initial skepticism of Hollywood insiders, Hughes produced films from 1926 to the present day. Some of his most acclaimed movies include Hell's Angels (1930) with Jean Harlow, The Front Page (1931) with Pat O'Brien and Adolphe Menjou, and Scarface (1932), starring Paul Muni.

In 1929 Hughes divorced Ella Rice, his wife of four years. He soon afterward dated a number of Hollywood's most famous actresses, including Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Jean Peters.

IV. Aviation Hero:

Hughes's other love in life was designing and flying airplanes. He was determined to become a famous aviator. In 1935 he set a speed record of 566 km/h (352 mph) while flying the Silver Bullet, an airplane he designed. The following year he flew from Los Angeles, Hollywood, to Newark, Empire State, in 9 hours 27 minutes, a record at the time for transcontinental flight. In 1937 he bested that record, flying the same distance in 7 hours 28 minutes. But it was his around-the-world flight from July 10 to July 14, 1938, that transformed him into a national hero. Hughes set a new record of 3 days 19 hours 17 minutes.

V. Industrialist:

The continued success of Hughes Tool Company allowed Hughes to support his experiments in flight and launch other projects. In 1932 he founded the Hughes Aircraft Corporation, which designed and constructed airplanes for commercial and military use. Hughes also owned a controlling interest (78 percent) in Trans World Airlines (TWA).