On January 19, 1937, millionaire Howard Hughes flew his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark, New York in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds, beating the record he had set a year earlier by nearly two hours .
Hughes was an Academy Award-winning film producer and had a great passion for aviation. He earned his pilot’s license while filming it Hell’s Angels, a 1930 film about World War I pilots, which at the time cost an exorbitant $3.8 million. Two years later, he founded the Hughes Aircraft Company, which specialized in the construction and redesign of aircraft.
He set his first aviation record in 1934. flying at a speed of 185 miles per hour. In 1935 he would set a new record with the revolutionary H-1 Racer and average speed of 352 miles per hour. The particular flight was aborted when it ran out of fuel, causing the aircraft to crash. Hughes, however, managed to escape.
In January 1937, he would set yet another record. The flight from Los Angeles to New York would gain attention. During the 2,490-mile journey, his average speed reached 332 miles per hour. According to information, in fact, Hughes seems to have decided to carry out this particular flight just hours before take-off, after he was informed that another pilot was planning to carry it out. It finally departed Union Air Terminal, in Burbank, California, at 2:14 am. (Pacific time) with his company’s H-1 Racer, NR258Y. Although he managed to cross the entirety of the US mainland from east to west, and thus the flight was ultimately successful, it was not without difficulties: Hughes nearly passed out while fitting his oxygen mask in the Sierra. Nevertheless, in an effort to balance the pressure in his head he began to scream and thus began to feel better – especially difficult in conditions of such altitude. Finally, it arrived at Newark Airport, New Jersey at 12:42:25 PM (Eastern Time).
This particular record was not, however, his last. A year later, he would achieve another; that of the fastest flight around the world. During World War II, he focused on building military aircraft and improving Trans World Airlines, which he had purchased in 1938. After the war, in 1946, he had a very serious accident while flying an Air Force plane over from Los Angeles. In the years that followed, the need to deal with his condition caused him to become addicted to painkillers. In the last years of his life he became increasingly eccentric. He died alone, in the hospital where he was being treated.
However, while the 1937 flight gained the attention of many, it has not been officially recognized as a record by the International Aeronautical Federation.
Column editor: Myrto Katsigera, Vassilis Minakakis, Antigone-Despina Poimenidou, Athanasios Syroplakis
