In More of the Straight Dope, Cecil answered, for the moment, the question of the disposition of Hughes’ estate. But he said that the various heirs and assigns were, at that writing, still dickering with the IRS over who gets how much. Twelve years have passed, and there has been no mention of the matter in three subsequent Straight Dope books. What’s the deal?
This would be a good question in the General Questions forum. Are you claiming part of the estate?
No, I’m not; the nearest thing I had to a connection with Howard Hughes is that my father worked as his aircraft plant in the 50s. (Hughes gave all of his employess free turkeys on Thanksgiving and Christmas.)
But I read Cecil’s discussion of the topic in More of the Straight Dope, and a probate lawyer whose courses I took in the early 90s had no information about it. And I have seen nothing about Hughes’ estate in the local newspaper.
Can someone explain for us young’uns about Hughes? a) Where did he get his money to start with? Did he work his way up, strike oil, play stocks, or inherit? b) What exactly did he initially do for the airplane industry that was a success?
All I’ve heard was about the Spruce Goose which never really got off the ground - at least not in any practical sense. And, I’m not even sure if it did physically! (Was it really made of wood?) So what DID he do?
Kinda like Ross Perot…please enlighten
Hughes Tool and Die, originally. There’s no doubt that Hughes, as an industrialist, was no worse than Henry Ford, and did less harm, on the whole, than Bill Gates.
The Spruce Goose definitely flew, although not far. In the end, it turned out to have no military mission. It happens – whenever you get into a multi-year development project, sometimes history will outflank you.
John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams
According to local newspapers, Hughes himself took the Spruce Goose on its only flight, around Los Angeles Harbor (where they had the recent uproar about tearing down federal buildings for a COSTCO container terminal); he made this flight on November 2, 1947. Unfortunately for Hughes, World War II was winding down before he could get the Spruce Goosoe put into service–and he had sunk a bundle into it. Yes, it was made of wood.
Howard’s dad invented the rockbiter drill bit that is so vital to oil drilling to this day. Once Howard inherited, he began to sell out the tool company and go into aircraft.
The topic is discussed in Chapter 7 of More of the Straight Dope, but has yet to be listed in the column archives (or if it is, a search couldn’t find it).
I think Hughes was a pilot: he developed racing planes at Hughes Aircraft. He also owned TWA for a while, but sold it in 1966, reportedly for $546 million.