Howard Hughes Mental Illness

Howard Hughes: Famous Aviator or Famous Nutcase?

　　　　“I want to be remembered for one thing, my contributions to aviation” - Howard Hughes

Howard Hughes is known for three main things, aviation, his wealth and most of all his mental illness. From reading Howard Hughes comment above, he wanted to be remembered for his contributions to aviation, not his mental illness. Its obvious that even though Howard Hughes held many land speed records and once flew around the world, Howard Hughes mental illness stopped him from becoming the most famous aviator of the early 20th century. Howard Hughes mental illness had him pushing aircraft limits, sometimes to the point of crashing them. His mental illness, specifically obsessive compulsive disorder

prevented him from building successful airplanes for the United States military.
　　　　Howard Hughes held many land speed records and one particular was on September 13, 1935 Howard set the air speed record of 352 mph while flying a plane he built, the H-1 racer, at his test course near Santa Ana California.

Another record was on January 19, 1937 Howard set the transcontinental airspeed record by flying from Los Angeles to New york in 7 hours 28 minutes flying a modified hughes racer. Another example of Howard Hughes great aviation accomplishments was in 1938 howard flew around the world in 91 hours (3 days 19 hours).

　　　　Even though Howard Hughes held many land speed records and once flew around the world, Howard Hughes mental illness stopped him from becoming the most famous aviator of the early 20th century because Howard Hughes mental illness had him pushing aircraft limits, sometimes to the point of crashing them. While on a test flight of the experimental spy plane the XF-11 over Los Angeles, the aircraft lost oil pressure and crashed in a beverly hills neighborhood. The accident was so severe, Howard almost did not survive the accident and had complications from the accident the rest of his

life.
Another example that shows that Howard hughes mental illness had him pushing aircraft limits was when Howard was filming the movie “Hells Angeles” he performed a very dangerous maneuver in a bi-plane for a scene in the film. The other pilots refused to perform the maneuver so Howard performed it himself. While performing the dangerous maneuver, Howard crashed the biplane and was injured but walked away. Three other pilots were not as lucky filming “Hells Angels” and were killed.
　　　　The most important reason Howard Hughes mental illness stopped him from becoming the most famous aviator of the early 20th century is because His mental illness specifically obsessive compulsive disorder stopped him from building successful airplanes for the military. The XF-11 spyplane that Howard crashed over Beverly Hills in 1946 was never delivered to the United States military. Another example that shows that His mental illness specifically obsessive compulsive disorder stopped him from building successful airplanes for the military is the H-5 Hercules also nicknamed the Spruce Goose. This aircraft was a troop carrier sea plane that was massive. This aircraft also was never delivered to the United States military and only flew once briefly on November 2, 1947 by Howard himself in long beach harbor.
　　　　So it is clear that although Howard Hughes held many land speed records and once flew around the world, Howard Hughes mental illness stopped him from becoming the most famous aviator of the early 20th century for two main reasons.

First, Howard Hughes mental illness had him pushing aircraft limits sometimes to the point of crashing them. But most importantly, His mental illness specifically O.C.D. stopped him from building successful airplanes for the military. Howards mental condition got worse the older he became. The later part of his life, he became a total recluse and only communicated to a small group of his closest friends. Howard even didn’t see his own wife face to face, he only spoke to her via telephone. So what would have happened in Aviation if Howard Hughes would have been totally sane? What advances in Aviation would he have made that could have changed the outcome of World War II, history or other world

events?

Works Cited
Gerber, Albert Benjamin. Bashful Billionaire: The story of Howard Hughes. New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1968
“Howard Hughes Article.” New World Encyclopedia.org. 9/15/2015 http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Howard_Hughes