Howard Hughes | Wings of Desire

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“I wanted to see New York . . . so I tried to see how fast I could do it in.”

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–Howard Hughes

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21 Jan 1937, Newark, NJ — Howard Hughes, famous pilot, seated in cockpit of his record breaking monoplane at Newark Airport. — Image by © Bettmann

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14 July 1938, New York, NY — Pictured winging over the panorama of New York skyscrapers that it left less than four days ago is the silver monoplane, in which Howard Hughes and his four aides girdled the globe faster than it has ever been done before, cutting time, destroying space to the roaring accompaniment of its twin motors. Score one more entry in the history of the world to the credit of American genius, workmanship and progressiveness. — Image by © Bettmann

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11 July 1938, New York, NY — Howard Hughes’ Lockheed 14 Super Electra over New York City — Image by © Bettmann

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11 July 1946, Culver City, CA — Roaring across the airfield in Culver City, Howard Hughes in the XF-11 photographic plane takes the plane on its maiden flight. Soon after this photo was taken, the plane smashed into Beverly Hills homes. Hughes was seriously hurt. –Image by © Bettmann

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10 July 1946, Beverly Hills, CA — One of the 2 engines of Howard Hughes’ reconnaissance plane, which he built for the AAF, lies in foreground after Hughes crashed while making the plane’s test flight 7/7, seriously injuring himself. The $100,000 residence, demolished in the resultant blaze, is shown at right. A corner was chipped from the house at left, and trees were flattened. Other parts of the plane are scattered between the two damaged houses. Hughes’ landing gear jammed and he attempted to land at the L.A.Country Club golf course, but missed and crashed into the residence. — Image by © Bettmann

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28 June 1946, Long Beach, CA — Transfer of the world’s largest cargo plane from the Culver City, California, plant where it was built to the Long Beach, California base where it will be assembled, constituted one of the most strangest and most difficult moving jobs on record. For six days, hundreds of thousands of Southern Californians watched the fantastic parade of plane parts lumber over a 28-mile land and water route. The biggest problems were created by the three major parts, the 220-foot hull and the 320-foot wing, which was broken into two equal sections for the journey. To make way for the fuselage, it was necessary for power company employees, working a mile in advance, to clip overhead wires. The final and most hazardous stage was the progress of the giant hull over a specially constructed pontoon bridge from the mainland to the plane’s terminal island base in Los Angeles Harbor — Image by © Bettmann

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31 Oct 1947, Terminal Island, CA — Flight Deck of Hughes’ “Spruce Goose” — Image by © Bettmann

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14 May 1947, Long Beach, CA — World’s Largest Airplane. Long Beach, California: This is the most recent view of the world’s largest airplane, the giant , designed and built by Howard Hughes. Major construction has been completed on the ship shown here in its graving dock. After ground tests, the plane will undergo water-taxi tests. — Image by © Bettmann

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01 Nov 1947, Terminal Island, CA — Aerial View of Howard Hughes’ “Spruce Goose” — Image by © Bettmann

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01 Nov 1947, San Pedro, Los Angeles, CA — Workmen put finishing touches to the interior of millionaire Howard Hughes’ 200-ton flying boat on November 1st, shortly before the big craft made taxi runs in Los Angeles Harbor. This photo, looking forward from the tail of the ship, shows the interior of the cargo deck. The floor of the cargo deck covered with plastic balloons. — Image by © Bettmann

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31 Oct 1947, Terminal Island, CA — Howard Hughes at controls of the giant Hughes flying boat at its mooring at Terminal Island. The big flying boat is nearly ready for its taxi tests in Los Angeles Harbor. — Image by © Bettmann

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“I’m not a paranoid deranged millionaire. Goddamit, I’m a billionaire.”

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–Howard Hughes

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