Veteran’s corner

Tom Krabbenhoft

As we left off last week on Mr. Hughes his radial aircraft engine was seen in the Japanese Zero. During WW2 Hughes continued developing and improving aircraft.
After WW2 he was flying on of his revolutionary designs when he was in a horrible crash. This was his fourth and by far worse crash. He suffered several broken bones, gashes and severe burns over most of his body. His mind stayed sharp. While in the hospital he designed a hospital bed with electric motors that could reposition him without pain. The bed is the predecessor to the modern hospital bed. This is where Hughes also started his massive opioid addiction and his descent to madness and OCD. He had a condition that caused a perpetual sensation of pain. This partly explains some of his behavior in later life. Some of this was lack of clothing, which may have been painful to him.
1947 Hughes was called to a Senate hearing. Senator Brewster head of the committee and Hughes traded barbs. The Senator was trying to pin millions of dollars of WW2 procurement fraud against Hughes. Chiefly about the Spruce Goose. Around this time Hughes started TWA Airlines, and he claimed Senator Brewster was in the pocket of Pan AM Airlines. Brewster claimed the Spruce Goose could not fly. At stake was Hughes hard-fought reputation and millions of dollars.
Spruce Goose- the aircraft is still the largest ever made. It is a large sea plane, as German U boats took a toll on shipping. It stood 5 stories tall and a wingspan longer than a football field. During the war aluminum was in short supply, Hughes aircraft was made of wood bound with a resin. The aircraft was designed to carry 750 fully equipped troops.
The first and only surprise flight took place on 2 November 1947. Hughes piloting, two co-pilots, 12 mechanics and 30 plus journalists were on board. The Goose taxied down the harbor hitting 170 MPH as it took off eventually lifting 25 feet off the water and only for a half mile. It did fly, which Senator Brewster said it would not. Hughes later repurchased the aircraft back from the government for 800K. He had a hangar built for the plane and it was hermetically sealed at a cost of 1 million a year.
In 1972 Hughes launched the Glomar Explorer. He told the media the ship was designed for exploring the ocean floor for mining potential. In fact the ship was designed for something completely different.
The government came to Hughes with a huge secret. A Soviet K-129 Nuclear Submarine sank. The US Navy located the submarine almost 3 miles below the surface. Hughes went to work designing a ship to recover a submarine.
Project Azorian as it was called was successful. The CIA and other government agencies have still remained silent on what exactly was recovered from the submarine. So much misinformation and lack of straight answers from the government is still known as a Glomar Response.
Sadly Hughes is mostly remembered for his final days and not his ever-lasting contributions from all areas.