Hughes Aircraft Company
The Hughes Aircraft Company, the creation of Howard Hughes, was originally formed in 1932 under the control of the Hughes Tool Company, which Hughes inherited at the age of 19 after his father's death. With the money he made as the head of Hughes Tooling, Howard Hughes moved to Hollywood to begin his career as a film director, an entirely self-funded venture. Hughes Aircraft, as a division of Hughes Tool Company, kept track of the expenses of his personal interest in flying and developing aircraft. Hughes established himself as a celebrity test and racing pilot, setting multiple speed records. The Hughes Aircraft Company won defense contracts during WWII to develop high speed pursuit and reconnaissance aircraft and communication systems. In 1941, the Company moved from Glendale to Culver City, where he established two facilities, including a plant and an airport on a tract of land along Ballona Creek. At that time there were about 500 employees, 100 of whom were engineers, and Hughes needed a facility to help him produce his designs for the military.
Most of the prototypes the company produced never saw production. At his Culver City plant, Hughes developed two of his well known projects: the HK- 1 (Hercules) Flying Boat, better known as the 'Spruce Goose', and the XF-11 reconnaissance plane. The contract for the XF-11 had been cancelled at the end of the war, but Hughes flight tested the prototype in 1947, ending with Hughes crashing it in Beverly Hills. Both were the subject of a 1947 Senate War Investigating Committee, which hinged on the HK-1's ability to fly. The large wooden plane was transported in pieces from its Culver City plant for a demonstration that took place in the Long Beach Harbor, also in 1947. The trial ended with Hughes becoming a persecuted hero of aviation, and the transcontinental expansion of his TWA airline. |
Former site of Hughes Airport near Jefferson Blvd. (now Playa Vista/Ballona Wetlands)
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Following the Senate investigation, Hughes Aircraft prospered as a Cold War defense contractor. Although Hughes Aircraft originally produced airplanes, after WWII the company transferred their attention to helicopter production. Hughes Aircraft purchased their first helicopter design from another company, which it intended for commercial use, but it was unsuccessful. Hughes later moved the Helicopter Division from Hughes Aircraft to Hughes Tooling, and began designing smaller light weight designs that had greater commercial and military applications. The first successful model was known to the military as the TH-55 Osage. Hughes helicopters were used in the Vietnam War, particularly the light observation and attack helicopter, the Cayusa. Hughes Helicopters was also the progenitor of the iconic AH-Apache helicopter, which had evolved through McDonnell Douglas, who purchased Hughes Helicopters, and ultimately Boeing who acquired McDonnell Douglas and the Hughes Helicopter division.
Hughes Aircraft Company also designed the Falcon radar-guided air-to-air Missile, as well as a Nuclear version of the Falcon Missile (GAR-11), which used a 1.5-kiloton warhead. The design was part of the development of the long-range air-to-air missile, named the AIM-PHOENIX missile, and the first Beyond Visual Range missle AIM Sparrow. The PHOENIX missile was so named because Hughes had planned to build a missle production facility in PHOENIX, which was later moved to Tucson. The impetus for the PHOENIX plant was that Howard Hughes had feared that his plant in Culver City, being near the coast, was vulnerable to enemy attack after the beginning of the Korean War on June 25, 1950. In the 1990's Hughes would continue to develop the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, also known as the AMRAAM.
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Even before Howard Hughes' death in 1976, many of the successful projects coming out of Hughes Aircraft Company were actually overseen by Lawrence Hyland, who eventually became its CEO. The company was donated to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1953, but after Hughes' death, it was sold off to General Motors, who merged it with Delco Electronics to create the Hughes Electronics Co. The Howard Hughes Airport was used between 1940 and 1985. Other assets owned by Hughes Tooling Co. (later Summa Corp.) were sold off to other companies as well. At its height Hughes had thousands of employees in multiple facilities in and around Southern California. Today, the airport location North of Westchester Bluffs, south of and along Jefferson Blvd., is now part of the Playa Vista planned community. The plant that produced the HK-1 “Spruce Goose” remains, and its hangars were converted by the Ratkovich Company into sound stages in mid 1990's, and are currently occupied by the YouTube Space LA and Google.
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Barlett, Donald L. and James B. Steele. Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 2004.
"" (1986). MilitaryFactory.com.
Hecht, Jeff. "Beam : The Race to Make the Laser". Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2005.
"". University Libraries. University of Nevada Las Vegas.
"" Transcribed by Faith MacPherson. Our Space HAC Heritage Blog. May 8th, 2015.
Leighton, David. "". Arizona Daily Star. May 4, 2015.
It is also worth noting the second division with a betting shop, which includes about 500 different options related to sports, where each implies not only broadcasting, but also additional bets. It is also worth noting the presence of high coefficients and the ability to double your winnings using the bonus bet tips free cricket system.
Barlett, Donald L. and James B. Steele. Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 2004.
"" (1986). MilitaryFactory.com.
Hecht, Jeff. "Beam : The Race to Make the Laser". Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2005.
"". University Libraries. University of Nevada Las Vegas.
"" Transcribed by Faith MacPherson. Our Space HAC Heritage Blog. May 8th, 2015.
Leighton, David. "". Arizona Daily Star. May 4, 2015.
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