THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1962
MEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE. MKDFCHD. OREGON
Howar
d Huglies M
Editoi'i not - Eccentric
and elusive Howard Hughes
wai ordered to appear in a
federal courtroom in Naw
York racanlly to ieiiily In
the $115 million (M) dam
age tuit brought againit
him by Tran World Air
linei. Hii wheraabouti tor
iha pait montha haa
bean a complete myitery.
The "will h appear or
won't he" iiiipense ii typi
cal ol thil man about whom
avaryone knowi-and who ii
really not known by any
one. The tol'owing dispatch
goes into hii background
and troubles.
By ROBERT J. SERLING
UP1 Aviation Editor
His full name is Howard
Hobard HuRhcs Jr.
He was born in, Houston,
Elect
AL DUMAS
(Rapublican)
Stale
Representative
Background
Ability
Understanding
"Do With Uumai"
Pd. Pol. Adv.
Wilson Smith
3135 Connell Ave.,
Mcdford
Texas,' 56 years atjo-the son
of a man who became reason
ably wealthy by founding a
company that made oil drill
ing tools.
He was educated in prepar
atory schools in Boston and
California. He attended the
California Institute of Tech
nology and Rice Institute.
His first wife was Ella Rice.
They were divorced four
years later, in 1028. Not until
1957 did he marry again-a
former Ohio State beauty
queen and promising actress
named Jean Peters who still
is Mrs. Hughes.
Those are the bare, basic
facts about this man of mys
tery, a colossus of contradic
tion and controversy. Pick up
any two well-researched arti
cles about Howard Hughes
and you will find them ditlcr-
ing in vital poinls-which is
nautrai because only Hughes
himself could supply all the
facts.
Much Ii Legend
Much that has been written
about him is legend, fiction or
at best apocryphal. Such as a
supposed letish for wearing
tennis shoes, or sneakers, on
virtually all occasions. If one
is to take Hughes' own word
for it, he doesn't wear tennis
shoes.
"I've never worn them," he
told a United Press Interna
tional reporter in his most re
cent interview - which hap
pened to be 10 years ago.
"There is nothing myster
ious about me," he insisted.
"1 have no interest in expen
sive clothes. Clothes arc some
thing to wear and autos are
transportation (his explana
tion of why a man whose per
sonal fortune is estimated
high in the millions was driv
ing, at the time, a rather bat
tered 1050 Chevrolet). If they
issing on Eve
of TWA Suit Ag
ainst Him
.--, aV
'? Flit, ' I
bi ;Si&
AT CONTROLS Howard Hughes isahown taxing at con
trols of TWA Constellation after big ship landed at La
Guardia airport in New York Feb. 15, 1946 to inauguarate
non stop flight service between Los Angeles and New York
Now, no longer a pilot, Hughes is involved in a legal battle
to get back at TWA controls on ground. (UPI photo)
cover me up and get me there,
that s sufficient.
Perhaps the most inaccu
rate picture of this complicat
ed man is the idea that he's a
daredevil, speed-loving play
boy who adores fast airplanes
like the late Aly Khan adored
fast automobiles. Hughes may
be a ruthless, cold-blooded,
unemotional tyrant in his bus
iness dcals-as a legion of non
admirers claim. But he also
happens to be a legitimate ex
pert on aviation and in many
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facets of aeronautics an actu
al pioneer.
Item:
Hughes holds two of the
most coveted awards in avia
tion - the Harmon trophy in
1 038 and the Collycr trophy
in 1939, both given him or
flights that set speed and dis
tance records.
(Congress also voted him a
special medal in 1941 for a
record-breaking world flight
he made three years earlier. It
was typical of Hughes that he
never bothered to come to
Washington to pick it up.
President Harry S. Truman
mailed it to him years later).
Item:
It was Hushes who fur
nished Lockheed with the ba
sic concept of two of the na
tion's most famous planes -the
j World War II fighter known
, as the Lightning, and (he trip
! le-tailed airliner called the
I Constellation.
Was Copilot
II is not widely known that
Hughes was a copilot for
American Airlines in 10IS2,
even when he was well on his
way to becoming one of the
country's wealthiest men.
Only a man whose heart and
soul were in the air could
have taken a comparatively
menial flight job at a time
when he probably could have
! bought the whole airline.
Hughes' frequently unshav
en appearance was as much
due to aviation as to his ad
mitted lack of interest in sar
torial neatness. His beard
hides the scars from an air
crash, residue of injuries re
ceived when he was testing a
new type of plane in 1946.
Hughes, the movie maker, is I
a atory of its own. "Hell's An
gels," produced in 1928, still
ranks as the best air epic ever
filmed, although most people
remember it more as the ve
hicle which made a star out of
a blonde Jean Harlow (who
later died).
In a way, it is too bad that
Hughes ever entered the Hol
lywood movie jungle. Much of
the derogatory items of the
Hughes legend have a Holly
wood locale. It is significant
for example, that the famous
brassiere he designed for Jane
Russell (one wit said only an
aeronautical engineer could
have conceived it) is remem
bered more by the public than
his contributions to aviation.
Also buried in the enigma
of Hughes is the fact that he
was one of the few men in his
tory who not only survived a
congress i o n a 1 investigation,
but almost wrecked the com
mittee Investigating him.
Displayed Talent
The probe involved an eight-
engine plywood Hying boat
which Hughes completed in
1947 at a cost to the govern
ment of $40 million. A senate
committee got Hughes to
Washington for testimony. At
the hearings, Hughes dis
played a talent for rapier-like
repartee that made many sen
ators uneasy. Ihey finally re
treated bleeding from his vcr
bal sallies, and nothing more
was said about the flying boat
which did gel off the water
a few limes.
The current Hughes -TWA
dispute is a tale of tangled fi
nances, involving mostly
Hughes' control over the air
line's plane purchases.
By the end of World War II
Hughes, through the Hughes
Tool Co. (Toolco), had
quired nearly 80 per cent of
IWAs stock. The financier
became the airline's virtual
boss, dictating equipment pol
icy to such an extent that on
one occasion-in 1957-Toolco
ordered 25 long-range Constel
lalions for $50 million (M)
without TWA's own publicity
department even knowing
about it until it appeared in
the press.
It was Toolco, not TWA
which ordered the carriers
jets from Boeing. It was
Toolco, not TWA, which
signed a contract with Con
vair for 30 jetliners known as
the 880. TWA, in its suit
against Hughes, charges that
his interference put TWA at a
competitive disadvantage. The
airline claims Hughes' delays
in ordering the Boeing 707,
plus subsequent changes in
the number of planes wanted,
resulted in arch-rivals Pan
American and American beat
ing TWA into jet service by
many months.
Introduced Early
Even the 880, which Con-
vair built largely because of
Hughes interest in the design.
was introduced by Delta near
ly 10 months earlier than
TWA. The airline says Hughes
deliberately delayed 880 de-
1 liveries by taking Toolco in
spectors off the Convair as
sembly line-just to make the
financial institutions which
had loaned TWA money for
the new planes look bad.
It is these institutions - a
bank and two insurance com-panies-with
whom Hughes is
locked in mortal combat as
much as he is with TWA man
agement. In 1960, TWO badly
needed new financing to mod
ernize its fleet. Hughes was
unable to swing the loan. A
group of Wall Street interests
persuaded him to put his
TWA stock into a 10-year vot
ing trust. In return, Wall
Street promised to finance
TWA's equipment purchases.
Hughes literally was forced
to agrce-and in doing so lost
control over TWA for the next
10 years. The $115 million
damage suit also involves- a
Hughes' contract with Con-
vair for 13 jets known as the
990, a larger version of the
880. Hughes insisted the 990
contract was made before the
voting trust agreement, leav
ing TWA with a moral, or
even legal, obligation to hon-'
or it.
More at Stake
More is at stake than the j
millions of dollars in damage;
suits. If Hughes loses, TWA
may merge with Pan Am. If1
he wins, TWA probably will
Join with Jiorthcast-a carrier
over which Toolco recently
won control with the bless
ings of the Civil Aeronautics
board.
It has been said that Hughes
loves TWA more than the rest
of his enterprises combined.
It figures, because he has
loved aviation more than any
thing else-even though he no
longer flics himself. Hard of
hearing, aging and sometimes
ill, Hughes has not taken a
federal aviation physical for
at least three years. He would
be flying illegally the min
ute he touched the controls.
Figuratively, however,
Hughes obviously wants back
in the TWA cockpit. And no
body is making book that he
doesn't achieve it.
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IBS' w H
r J
IN LEGAL BATTLE Howard llughr.1 h.-iens Willi ear
phones In testimony before the Senate War Investigating
subi'oiimiuti'o in this 1!I47 photo. Hughes was asked to testily
before the subcommittee over an eight-engine pluod th
ing boat that he completed at cost to I'. S government of
$10 million. Now, aging, hard of hearing and sometimes ill,
Hughe is involved in legal battle to regain control over
Trans World airlines. I U" 11 photo)
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