Howard Hughes (1905-1976) “I’m not a paranoid deranged millionaire. Goddamit, I’m a billionaire.”

The Aviator In 2004 Martin Scorsese directed a film documenting the life of Howard Hughes starring Leonardo DiCaprio as “The Aviator” The film won 5 Oscars and was nominated for 6 categories including best motion picture of the year

Childhood Howard was born in Houston, Texas to Howard Robard Hughes Sr. and Allene Gano Hughes

Hughes Tool Company Howard Hughes Sr. left his successful business founded in the early 1900s to Howard when he died

Howard and Hollywood Hughes later went into the film industry and produced 40 films from 1926-1957 His films include: Hell’s Angels (1930), The Front Page (1931), Scarface (1932) Howard ran the film studio RKO Pictures Corporation from 1948-1957

Howard the Aviator 1935 set speed record of 352mph with the Silver Bullet, a plane he designed 1936 flew from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey in 9 hours and 27 minutes flew to Paris in another racer in half the time it took Charles Lindbergh Flew around the world in 3 days

Hughes Aircraft Corporation Howard founded Hughes Aircraft in 1932 The company designed and constructed airplanes for commercial and military use

The Spruce Goose In the mid 1940s Howard was awarded a federal contract to build the biggest plane ever constructed He built a cargo plane out of wood that was meant to be used for war but was completed too late 1947 ground-only demonstration of the plane Hughes flew the plane for 60 seconds Holds record for the largest wingspan 319 ft. 11 in.

In 1953 Hughes founded a Medical Institute and transferred all 75,000 shares of Hughes Aircraft Co. stock to the organization Based in Miami, Florida it used part of the company’s profits to fund research One of the largest nonprofit medical research centers in the U.S.