Howard hughes is a famous American pilot, engineer, entrepreneur, film director, playboy, eccentric personality, and one of the richest people in the world at that time. The full name is Howard Lumbard Hughes, Jr.
be born
Although howard hughes's date of birth is still controversial, it is generally believed that howard hughes was born in Houston, Texas, USA on February 24th. His parents are howard hughes Sr and Alan Gano Hughes. Howard hughes Sr is the inventor of the double-cone rotary drilling rig used for drilling oil and the founder of Hughes Tool Company. The drill bit invented by howard hughes Sr is a revolutionary invention in the history of oil drilling. But howard hughes's parents both died when he was a teenager, and howard hughes inherited most of his father's inheritance.
education
When he was a teenager, howard hughes declared that his goal in life was to be the best golfer, the best pilot and the best film producer in the world. Howard hughes studied in many excellent schools all his life, but never got a degree. He attended Fessenden School in West Newton, Massachusetts, Thacher School in Ojai, California, California Institute of Technology and Rice College (now Rice University). While studying in Rice, howard hughes inherited his father's company and howard hughes dropped out of school.
film-maker
Howard hughes used his inheritance to enter the film industry. At first, howard hughes was unpopular in the film industry, thinking that he was just a dude from a rich family. However, in 1927, he released his first films "Everyone's Performance" and "Two Arabian Knights", both of which were commercially successful. Two Arabian knights won the Oscar for best comedy director. The racket in 1928 and the front page in 193 1 were nominated for Oscar. He spent an unprecedented $4 million in private funds to write and direct the air combat epic Hellscream, and his 1932 Scarface became a very successful film. Howard hughes's most famous film is Gangster starring jane russell. Because of the violent plot in Scarface and the exposed scenes in Gangster, these two films were strictly censored by the film industry at that time. Scarface was later remake in 1983.
Howard hughes is a famous playboy, and famous women who have had an affair with him include katharine hepburn, bette davis, gene tierney and ava gardner.
Pilots and engineers
Howard hughes was an aviation enthusiast, a pilot and a self-taught aviation engineer all his life. Howard hughes/Kloc-began to learn to fly at the age of 0/4. He created many flying world records, and designed and manufactured many planes while he was in charge of Hughes Aircraft Company. The most important plane he designed should be the Hughes H- 1 racing car. 1On September 3rd, 935, howard hughes set a speed record of 566 km/h by driving H- 1 in the test flight. 1937 65438+1October19, howard hughes set a flight record of 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds from Los Angeles to new york, with an average flight speed of 5 18 km/h, compared with the previous record of 9 hours and 27 minutes.
H- 1 racer includes several innovative designs, such as streamlined fuselage, retractable landing gear, rivets and joints flush with the fuselage to reduce air resistance. World War II fighters such as Zero, Focke-Wulfw190 and F6F Hellcat were all influenced by H- 1. 1In 975, the used H-/kloc-0 in howard hughes was donated to the National Air and Space Museum under the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. ..
On July 1938 and 10, howard hughes set a world record of flying around the world at 9 1 hour.
William P. Hobby Airport in Houston was named howard hughes Airport in 1938, but the name of the airport was later changed back to its original name because people objected to naming the airport after people who were still alive.
Howard hughes won many awards in his life. Including 1936 and 1938 Harmon Trophy, 1939 Collier Trophy and 1940 Octave Chanute Award. The United States Congress awarded the Congressional Medal in recognition of its achievements in flying around the world. According to The New York Times, howard hughes never went to Washington to receive the prize. Finally, US President Harry Truman presented the medal to howard hughes.
1938, transcontinental and western airlines (t&; WA) William John Frye, executive director, purchased a batch of 33-seat Boeing 307 aircraft. This kind of passenger plane is the first one with compression chamber in the world. William John Frye got enough money by lobbying howard hughes, who is also an aviation avant-garde, and howard hughes became T&; The largest investor in Western Australia. Thanks to Howard Hughes, T&; In the 1940s and 1950s, Western Australia was always an active buyer of the most advanced passenger aircraft. Under the management of Hughes, T&; WA made great progress and changed its name to TWA.
Hughes aircraft Corp.
Hughes Aircraft Company is a major defense and aerospace company in the United States, including Hughes Aerospace Communication Company and Hughes Helicopter Company.
Hughes Aircraft Company is one of the major missile suppliers of the US Air Force, and its famous products include AIM-4, AIM- 120, etc. Hughes Aircraft Company also manufactured the world's first practical laser in 1960, and designed a large number of photoelectric systems, radar systems, aircraft computer systems, missile systems and ion propulsion engines for space flight.
Hughes Aircraft 1985 was acquired by General Motors for $5 billion, and Hughes Electric was formed by integrating its Delcaux Electric and Hughes network systems. In the next twenty years or so, GM gradually sold the industry that Hughes originally owned.
Hughes Electric launched DirectTV on 1994. DirectTV and Hughes network system were acquired by News Corporation in 2003. In 2006, SkyTerra Communications acquired the controlling stake of Hughes Network Systems 100%. Despite many mergers and acquisitions, Hughes network system is still named after Hughes.
Hughes Aircraft's original factory in Southern California is now used by DreamWorks, a film production company.
Hughes space and communications Corp.
Hughes Aerospace and Communication Company was founded in 1963.
Hughes Aerospace and Communication Company's well-known products include the world's first geosynchronous satellite launched in 1963, the world's first geosynchronous meteorological satellite launched in 1966, Explorer-1 lunar lander launched in 1978, Pioneer Venus probe and Galileo Jupiter probe. Hughes Aerospace and Communication Company has also manufactured a large number of military and civilian satellites. By the year 2000, 40% of the artificial satellites in the world were products of Hughes Aerospace and Communication Company.
In 2000, Hughes Aerospace and Communication Company was acquired by Boeing Company and became a Boeing satellite system.
air disaster
1On July 7th, 946, howard hughes crashed in Beverly Hills during the test flight XF- 1 1. The plane crashed into three houses and started a fire. Howard hughes was rescued by US Marine Sergeant William L. Du Jin, who was visiting a friend nearby. Howard hughes broke six collarbones in the accident and suffered extensive third-degree burns. Many people believe that howard hughes's extensive use of morphine and painkillers during treatment led to his later opium addiction. After the accident, he left his trademark moustache to cover up the scar on his upper lip.
Spruce goose
The plane that howard hughes made the greatest effort in his life was the H-4 Hercules. People usually call this plane "Spruce Goose" (in fact, this plane is mostly made of birch instead of spruce). "Spruce Goose" is a giant seaplane, which still holds the world record of the largest wingspan. Its fuselage height is the same as that of Airbus A380, ranking first in the world, but if the landing gear is removed, "Spruce Goose" will be higher than Airbus A380. Its length is second only to An -225, and Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 rank fourth in the world. Howard hughes manipulated her to fly 10/0/mile on October 2nd. This plane was built for the application of the United States in World War II, but it was not completed until after the end of World War II. The US Senate set up an investigation committee and sent howard hughes to Washington to explain why the goods could not be delivered before the end of the war. But this investigation Committee was dissolved before the final report was submitted.
Nixon and Watergate Incident
1960 before the us presidential election, Nixon was exposed that his brother had accepted a loan of $200,000 from Howard Hughes and never repaid it, and was defeated.
In Watergate, the broken-in office belonged to howard hughes's employees.
Cut off from society
Howard hughes suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. In the late 1950s, howard hughes, once one of the most outstanding figures in the United States, completely disappeared from public view. Although tabloids often report rumors about howard hughes, most of them can't be confirmed. For example, different newspapers reported howard hughes's death many times.
Howard hughes showed it a long time ago. In 1930s, a friend of howard hughes said that howard hughes was very concerned about the size of his favorite beans when he ate them. He wants to sort the beans by size with a special fork before eating. While filming The Rogue, howard hughes was obsessed with the minor problem of jane russell's clothes, claiming that the folds on the clothes exposed jane russell's nipples. Later, he wrote a detailed memo to the staff to explain how to deal with this problem.
Howard hughes finally fell into complete seclusion and locked himself in a dark room every day. Although howard hughes has a barber on call, he only cuts his hair and nails once a year. Where Howard Hughes lives, there are usually several doctors hired by Howard Hughes at a high price, but Howard Hughes rarely lets them see a doctor or listens to them. In the last stage of his life, howard hughes's circle was mainly Mormons, because he believed that only Mormons could be trusted.
At this stage, howard hughes was addicted to drugs such as codeine and diazepam, and his body became weaker and weaker. Many biographies and novels say that he put urine in milk and made shoes out of tissue boxes. But it is reported that he only made a shoe with a tissue box to "protect" himself when the toilet leaked. He insisted on putting a paper towel on when taking things, so as to be isolated from bacteria. Howard hughes was infected with syphilis when he was very young. Syphilis stage III, blisters on my hands. It is generally believed that the doctor has warned him not to shake hands with others at this stage. Howard hughes kept the habit of shaking hands with others all his life. Howard hughes once burned all his clothes. Some people think this is because he is worried that syphilis bacteria will parasitize his clothes.
old age
In his later years, howard hughes moved from Beverly Hills to Boston and finally to Las Vegas to become a casino tycoon. 1966165438+1On October 27th, howard hughes acquired Desert Inn. The eighth floor of this hotel became the control center of his kingdom, while the ninth floor became his private residence.
From 1966 to 1968, he bought several major hotels and casinos from the mafia, such as Drifter, New Frontier, Landmark Hotels and Casinos, Sands and Silver Slippers, which freed Las Vegas from the control of the mafia. He hopes to change the image of gangs and prostitutes in Las Vegas to "a man in a formal suit and a beautiful woman in jewelry and fur are getting out of a luxury car". Because of insomnia, he bought several local TV stations in Las Vegas so that he could watch the programs he wanted in the early hours of the morning.
Howard hughes's assets are controlled by a group nicknamed "Mormon Mafia" by outsiders. In addition to managing Howard Hughes' huge assets, this team is also responsible for satisfying Howard Hughes' strange wishes. Howard hughes once wanted to eat Baskin Robbins's banana nut ice cream, but baskin robbins stopped producing this flavor of ice cream, so the Mormon Mafia specially ordered 350 gallons according to baskin robbins's minimum order. But howard hughes said a few days later that he didn't want to eat banana nuts any more. Therefore, Deserteinn offered free banana nut ice cream to customers in its casino for one year.
As a tycoon in Las Vegas, howard hughes has great political and economic influence in Nevada, and can even influence the outcome of the US presidential election. Worried about nuclear radiation, howard hughes tried to provide US Presidents lyndon johnson and Richard Nixon with $ 1 10,000 each to prevent them from conducting underground nuclear tests in Nevada. Howard hughes's assistant didn't really pay bribes, but told him that lyndon johnson refused to take bribes, but Nixon couldn't get in touch.
197 1, joan peters filed for divorce on the grounds that they had been separated for a long time. Joan peters only asked for $70,000 a year in life support, adjusted for inflation, and gave up howard hughes's property. Howard Hughes wanted to give joan peters100000 dollars, but Peters refused. Howard hughes's assistant said that howard hughes had never spoken ill of Peters. Peters also refused to talk about her life with howard hughes, saying only that she hadn't seen howard hughes for several years before filing for divorce, and howard hughes only spoke to her by phone. Peters also turned down several very attractive biographers and publishers.
1972, the writer Clifford Owen announced that he would co-write howard hughes's autobiography with howard hughes. Before this autobiography was published, howard hughes publicly announced that he had never written an autobiography. Clifford Owen ended up in prison for fraud 14 months.
die
1976 On April 5th, 70-year-old howard hughes died on the plane from his Mexican residence to Houston Methodist Hospital. Years of negligence made his face unrecognizable, and finally the FBI recognized him as howard hughes through his fingerprints.
Autopsy showed that he died of renal failure, but there was a lethal dose of codeine and a lot of diazepam in his blood. A broken needle was also found on his arm. Found him severely malnourished.
Howard hughes was finally buried at Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.