On 10th July 1938 Howard Hughes began his flight around the world and arrived 91 hours later to break the previous record by more than four days!
Howard Robard Hughes Jr (1905 – 1976) was an American business magnate, entrepreneur, investor, aviator, aerospace engineer, inventor, film producer and philanthropist. He was known as one of the most financially successful men in the world and gained prominence as an unorthodox film tycoon in Hollywood from the late 1920s. He made big-budget such as The Racket (1928), Hell’s Angels (1930), Scarface (1932), and The Outlaw (1943) which were generally regarded as controversial.
The around the world flight started at New York City and went on to Paris, Moscow, Omsk, Yakutsk, Fairbanks, Minneapolis and then back to New York City. The Lockheed 14 Super Electra was a twin-engine airplane with a four-man crew. It was fitted with the latest radio and navigational equipment because Howard Hughes wanted the flight to be a triumph of American aviation technology which proved that long-distance air travel was not only possible but safe. New York City honoured Howard Hughes‘ brilliant success with a ticker-tape parade in the Canyon of Heroes. Later that year the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas was renamed Howard Hughes Airport but when people objected to an airport being named after a living person it was changed back to the original name!
