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Howard Hughes And His Flying Boat
 
 
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Howard Hughes And His Flying Boat [Paperback]

Charles Barton (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Book Description

February 1998
The real story of Howard Hughes, aviator, innovative and visionary inventor and designer, has not heretofore been told. It is easy to see why. While he lived, it was difficult to write the biography of a billionaire who adamantly opposed the publication of anything about him. Would-be biographers were persuaded or forced to desist. Some were offered lucrative positions and disappeared into the ranks of the Hughes organizations never to be heard from again. Hughes employees were forbidden to talk about their boss. In 1965, Hughes concocted a new weapon to combat his would-be biographers -- Rosemont Enterprises, Inc., to whom he granted the exclusive right to use (publish, write, etc.) the name, personality, likeness, biography, life story, and incidents relating thereto of Howard R. Hughes.

Even after Random House pulled the fangs of Rosemont in a hard-fought and celebrated court case, and even after Hughes's death, vestiges of the old security barriers remained. Being close mouthed had become a habit in the Hughes organizations.

In Howard Hughes And His Flyng Boat, for the first time, large numbers of former Hughes employees and close associates talk about their famous boss. Here are behind-the-scenes stories that lift the veils of secrecy and controversy that have surrounded Hughes and his works during his lifetime.

This is more than the story of the world's largest airplane. It is the story of Hughes the aviator and designer of unusual airplanes during a fascinating era in aviation history. It is the story of his life before he became the wheeler-dealer of Las Vegas, of the airplane crashes that changed the course of his life, of his mysterious "disappearance" for nine months, and of his struggle to vindicate himself and his works during the Senate investigation of his wartime contracts.

In addition to the first-hand reminiscences of many who knew and worked for Howard Hughes, this book is based on previously unpublished documentary material.

Was Hughes really a brilliant designer and builder of airplanes or did he just have the money to hire others who were? What kind of a pilot was he, really? These are the kinds of questions answered in Howard Hughes And His Flying Boat.


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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Absolutely outstanding ... You have captured and presented a better image of the Old Man than any other I have read" -- Charles E. "Gene" Blandford, former Hughes Aircraft Flight Test Engineer

"I have read thirteen books regarding Howard Hughes, but of them all Howard Hughes and His Flying Boat by Charles Barton handles the flying boat story the best of all." -- Jack Real, long-time friend and confidant of Howard Hughes

"So much bilge has been written about him and his life in aviation that it was literally with relief and great pleasure that I read your work. It is an outstanding contribution ... " -- Jerry Hannifin, former Aviation & Space Editor, TIME, Inc.

From the Publisher

Howard Hughes And His Flying Boat, as originally published by Aero Publishers under ISBN 8168-0-6456-X, won the Aviation/Space Writers Association award as the best nonfiction aviation book of the year and went through six printings.

In 1993, the Hughes Flying Boat (better known as the "Spruce Goose") was moved from its display site alongside the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California to a new nest at Evergreen Aviation headquarters in McMinneville, Oregon. As a result, the Long Beach Museum book outlet closed and the then publisher of Howard Hughes And His Flying Boat, TAB/McGraw Hill, decided not to go for a seventh printing even though the book had sold out worldwide.

Now, in 1998, Evergreen Aviation is building the world-class AirVenture Museum featuring the Hughes Flying Boat and a host of war birds. Jack Real, a former close associate of Howard Hughes, now president of the Evergreen AirVenture Museum, has written a new forward for the book, and the author has written an additional final chapter concerning Evergreen Aviation's role. This new and revised 1998 edition of HOWARD HUGHES AND HIS FLYING BOAT is now available.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Charles Barton Inc; Revised edition (February 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0966317505
  • ISBN-13: 978-0966317503
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #686,829 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
5.0 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars BARTON CAPTURES THE GENIUS OF HOWARD HUGHES & SPRUCE GOOSE, January 27, 1999
This review is from: Howard Hughes And His Flying Boat (Paperback)
During the last 30 years I've had the rare opportunity to read every known autobiography ever published on Howard Hughes, along with incalculable magazine and newspaper articles. In fact, only recently, my "Letter-to-the-Editor", regarding the major overlook as Hughes as one of the Top 20 industrialist of the 20th Century...appeared in the 1998 Man-of-The-Year issue of Time magazine. I guess you may call me a Hughesonian? With this in mind, I must rate Charles Barton examination at the life of Howard Hughes in his 276-page book titled, "Howard Hughes and his Flying Book", as the finest ever published to date. While Barton does not touch on or go into great depth on Hughes' life in motion pictures, Las Vegas, the oil business or any of the plethora of activities the genius of Hughes took on, he does give you an amazing insight into Hughes and the building of the Spruce Goose. It takes a brave writer to delve into the life of Hughes. Few man, if any, have left such a legacy which include multi-billion dollar corporations. I myself have written and published more than 25,000 articles, yet to tackle and succeed with a story on Hughes would be a challenge only worthy of a dedicated and admirable writer like Barton. Not only is Barton a wordsmith but he has done extensive research on Hughes and his association with the Spruce Goose. You are literally taken into the mind and world of Howard Hughes and his associates. Unlike other Hughes biographies which paint just a bizarre human being, we see, true an eccentric man, but one who knew what he was doing and was always one step ahead of the game. While the construction of an enormous airplane like the Spruce Goose might be only of interest to engineers, the reader is brought to believe that the Spruce Goose had a life of it's own...an extension of Hughes. All bases are covered in "Howard Hughes and his Flying Boat" which includes one of the most extensive collection of Hughes photographs ever published along with a catchy book cover drawing of Hughes and his Spruce Goose. Rumour has it that actor Nicholas Cage has in the works to do an epic movie on the life of Howard Hughes. I recommend that Cage, if looking for an Oscar, read over this epic tale of the Hughes, the aviation genius.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars More Than The Story Of A Big Wooden Plane, January 14, 1998
By A Customer
This book was written by, and with, aircraft pilots in mind, but you don't have to be a pilot to enjoy reading it. It covers all aspects of Hughes' brilliance, life at the time, quirks, and headaches with the US Government over the "white elephant" that came to be known as the "Spruce Goose". Terrific reading for anyone who wants to know more about Hughes, or this amazing feat of design. A thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying read. This book may still be available at the souvenir stand if you should go to see the Flying Boat in person in California.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars More Than The Story Of A Big Wooden Plane, October 9, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Howard Hughes And His Flying Boat (Paperback)
This book was written by, and with, aircraft pilots in mind, but you don't have to be a pilot to enjoy reading it. It covers all aspects of Hughes' brilliance, life at the time, quirks, and headaches with the US Government over the "white elephant" that came to be known as the "Spruce Goose". Terrific reading for anyone who wants to know more about Hughes, or this amazing feat of design. A thoroughly enjoyable and satisfying read.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
IT WAS THE AFTERNOON of August 5, 1947. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
community airline bill, flying boat project, duramold process, sea mules, giant flying boat, aircraft contracts, power plant mechanic, taxi tests, powerplant mechanic, largest airplane, flight test engineer, flight test program, wartime contracts, supervising engineer, cargo deck, aircraft division
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Howard Hughes, Senator Brewster, Culver City, Hughes Aircraft, Pan American, Los Angeles, New York, Long Beach, Hughes Tool Company, Terminal Island, Air Corps, Noah Dietrich, Senator Ferguson, Las Vegas, Dave Grant, Wright Field, United States, Big Howard, Grover Loening, Carl Babberger, Juan Trippe, War Production Board, Defense Plant Corporation, Donald Nelson, World War
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