Howard Hughes: Aviator [Hardcover]

George J. Marrett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2004

George Marrett, a test pilot for Howard Hughes, gives a fascinating insider's account of the aviation genius who set speed records in the 1930s and went on to develop some of America's most famous aircraft and weapons. Marrett takes readers inside Hughes's complex world - a world that has kept its secrets for nearly six decades. Both a gifted storyteller and an expert in the field of aviation, the author integrates stories of Hughes the ace pilot with Hughes the designer who insisted on test-flying every plane he built and Hughes the businessman who became America's first billionaire.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Marrett was an experimental test pilot for the Hughes Aircraft Company for 20 years, and before that he flew 188 combat missions for the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War. This scrupulously researched book begins by recounting Hughes' early flying years (his first flight took place in 1920, when he was 14) and continues with his work in developing aircraft during World War II and the postwar era, the growth of Hughes Aircraft, the early age of jets, and his famous flight in the Spruce Goose. Marrett tells how Hughes became a billionaire and relates his later calamitous years in Las Vegas, where, because of his desire for isolation, he became a recluse. Marrett also recounts Hughes' successful work as a film producer and his relationships with actresses, some of the most famous stars of the 1920s and 1930s. With 31 photographs, this is an engrossing look at the man and his contributions to the history of aviation. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"...a continually fascinating biography." -- Air & Space, January 2005

"...an engrossing look at the man and his contributions to the history of aviation." -- Booklist, October 15, 2004

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (October 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591145104
• ISBN-13: 978-1591145103
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #462,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #16 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( H ) > Hughes, Howard

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars take it to the movies!, December 31, 2004

By 

Daniel Ford (at danford dot net) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Howard Hughes: Aviator (Hardcover)

Oh gosh, this is a good read. Buy it! Take it with you when you go to see Leonardo playing Howard on the big screen, so you can keep the airplanes straight and also remind yourself that, for all his genius, Howard Hughes was a rather shabby pilot. (A ***** stick, as they say in the Air Force.)

To save money on aeronautical charts, he flew with the road maps handed out free by oil companies. He ignored air-traffic controllers, filed misleading flight plans, identified himself with the name of his co-pilot, flew under visual rules in bad weather, and cut off the pilot ahead of him in the pattern. Even as a passenger, George Marrett writes, Hughes could turn a routine flight into a debacle. His big ambition was to outshine Lindberg.

Of course Howard Hughes was more than an aviator: he made movies, ran an airline, designed the half-cup bra, founded aerospace companies, made billions, and was the country's most famous hypochondriac. But those are incidentals as for a fellow pilot like George Marrett, who flew a rescue Skyraider in Vietnam and wrote about it in Cheating Death, and who afterward became a test pilot for Hughes Aircraft. By concentrating on the aviation side of his former boss, Marrett has written a short, readable, and fascinating biography. In his hands, Howard Hughes turns out to have been a lot more interesting than Charles Lindbergh, though he never came close to him as an aviator.

-- Dan Ford

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book to Date on Hughes the Aviator, December 22, 2004

By 

Dr. Hypersonic (Alexandria, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Howard Hughes: Aviator (Hardcover)

This is a remarkably fine book, and the author has done an excellent job sorting out myth from fact. Marrett, a highly regarded test pilot himself, writes with real authority as a Hughes insider who knew many of the people featured in this book. There have been some good works on individual Hughes aircraft (for example, Paul Matt on the H-1 Racer, and Charles Barton on the HK-1 flying boat), but this book is the first to really integrate the story of Hughes' aviation activities with his other interests, and to assess Hughes' own position within the aviation community and aviation history. Highly Recommended!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, unique inside view, February 27, 2005

By 

J. W. Fisher "Jeff" (DrivingEnthusiast.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Howard Hughes: Aviator (Hardcover)

This was the first Hughes book I've read, although I've chased down several more since. It's probably impossible to write a full bio of Howard Huges, given the extra large size of his life and all of his accomplishments... and the extra deep depths of his fall.

George Marrett has probably realized that, and limits the bio to some of the larger events of Hughes life, centered around aviation. He does a great job there, with inside stories (from extensive interviews of Hughes contemporaries) that are fascionating, and inspiring (for Hughes accomplishments - which were many and unique).

Don't buy this book expected to see the full story of Hughes life... or a more detailed view of The Aviator movie (which apparently took more than a few liberties). Buy it to more fully understand Hughes great aviation contributions... and the times in which he lived.

Fortunately, the book stays classy to the end, and avoids the tabloid view of Hughes life (and his end). We can get that type of view elsewhere.. if we want to waste our time. For now lets focus on the great persona of Hughes, and the the fascinating times in which he made his greatest contributions.