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N0KFQ > TODAY 05.04.12 18:07l 63 Lines 2919 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 20495_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Apr 5
Path: IZ3LSV<I0OJJ<VE3UIL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 120405/1648Z 20495@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.50
Apr 5, 1976:
Howard Hughes dies
Howard Robard Hughes, one of the richest men to emerge from the
American West during the 20th century, dies while flying from
Acapulco to Houston.
Born in Houston, Texas, in 1905, Hughes inherited an estate of
nearly a million dollars when his father died in 1923. Hughes'
father also left him the business that had created this fortune,
the Hughes Tool Company, which controlled the rights to a new oil
drill technology that was in high demand. The young Hughes
quickly began to expand his business empire into new fields. In
1926, he moved to Hollywood, where he became involved in the
rapidly growing movie industry. He produced several popular
films, including Hell's Angels, Scarface, and The Outlaw.
Fascinated with the new technology of airplanes, Hughes also
invested heavily in the burgeoning West Coast aviation industry.
With some training in engineering from the California Institute
of Technology and the Rice Institute of Technology, Hughes
designed his own aircraft and then had his Hughes Aircraft
Company build it. In 1935, he piloted one of his airplanes to a
new world-speed record of 352.46 mph. His reputation as an
aircraft designer and builder suffered after an ill-fated WWII
government-sponsored project to build an immense plane that
Hughes claimed would be able to transport 750 passengers.
Nicknamed the Spruce Goose, Hughes' monstrosity flew only once: a
one-mile hop on November 2, 1947.
Never an extrovert, Hughes became increasingly reclusive after
1950. Operating through managers who rarely saw him in person, he
bought up vast tracts of real estate in California, Arizona, and
Nevada that skyrocketed in value. In 1967, he became involved in
the Nevada gambling industry when he purchased the famous Desert
Inn Hotel on the Las Vegas strip. Nevada gaming authorities
welcomed Hughes' involvement because it counteracted the popular
image that the Mafia dominated the gambling industry. By the
early 1970s, Hughes had become the largest single landholder in
Nevada, and with around 8,000 Nevada residents on his payroll,
Hughes was also the state's largest employer.
Although the rumors of Hughes' bizarre behavior have been
exaggerated--in part due to a fraudulent memoir published in
1971--in his final years the billionaire became even more
obsessed with privacy. He continually moved between his
residences in Las Vegas, the Bahamas, Nicaragua, Canada, England,
and Mexico. Other than a few male aides, almost nobody saw
Hughes, and he sometimes worked for days at a stretch in a
black-curtained room without sleeping.
Emaciated and deranged from too little food and too many drugs,
Hughes finally became so ill that his aides decided that he
needed medical treatment. He died in his airplane en route from
Acapulco to Houston at the age of 70.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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