Howard Robard Hughes began flying at the age of 14, manifesting piloting skills which would be honed to perfection over the years. In 1923 he inherited the Hughes Tool Company, and immediately began the transition to develop it into a conglomerate which eventually produced aircraft, electronics, and space vehicles. In the early 1930s, he established Hughes Aircraft Company and started designing his own aircraft. On September 12th 1935, in the H-1 racer, an airplane designed to Hughes' specifications and powered by a 1,000-horsepower, twin-row radial engine, he established the world's landplane speed record of 352 miles per hour. On January 19th 1937, Hughes piloted the same aircraft to a new transcontinental U.S. speed record of 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds, averaging 332 miles per hour. In 1938 Hughes flew a modified Lockheed-14 for a round-the-world record of 91 hours and 17 minutes. Hughes then bought Transcontinental and Western Airlines and proposed the 50-passenger Constellation which cruised above 25,000 feet at speeds of 300 miles per hour. In 1942 Hughes started working on the design of an 8-engine, wooden flying boat intended to carry 750 passengers. On November 2nd 1947 he piloted this mammoth machine, commonly known as the Spruce Goose, for a short distance, in rebuttal to critics who predicted it would never fly. Howard Hughes established many aviation records and received many prestigious awards, including the Octave Chanute Award, the Collier trophy, and the Harmon trophy. In 1941 he received a special Congressional Medal for his 1938 around-the-world flight. Hughes' aviation career epitomized the courage and daring required to surpass existing limits, the technical expertise to produce innovative and vastly improved designs, and the business acumen to build a world-wide airline network.
Inducted in 1987.
Portrait Location: Near R-44 and B-5 Brougham

Induction Video