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, one of the world's most advanced air-to-air missiles'']] Hughes Aircraft Company was a major defense/aerospace company founded by Howard Hughes . The group was based near Ballona Creek, in Culver City , California , USA , on the Pacific Coast . Hughes Aircraft was acquired by General Motors in 1985. GM sold off divisions of the company one by one during the 1980s and '90s, and today only Hughes Network Systems still operates under the Hughes name. In 1997 the defense business of Hughes Electronics merged with Raytheon and the former Hughes Research Laboratories became jointly owned by GM and Raytheon. Hughes Space and Communications was purchased by Boeing in 2000. DirecTV was ultimately purchased by News Corporation . SkyTerra Communications, Inc. completed its purchase of 100% controlling interest in Hughes Network Systems in January 2006. History In 1932, Howard Hughes Jr. formed Hughes Aircraft Company as a division of the Hughes Tool Company , then known as Toolco. In 1935 Hughes built the H-1 Racer , which included every Streamlining concept then known, including retractable Landing Gear , a fully enclosed cockpit, and the first use of recessed rivets. The H-1 captured a number of speed records during the next few years, and made Hughes a household name. In 1936 Hughes Aircraft was formed as a separate company. During World War II the company designed and built several prototype aircraft including the famous Hughes H-4 Hercules , better known to the world as the "Spruce Goose". However the plant was used primarily as a Branch Plant for the construction of other company's designs. At the start of the war Hughes Aircraft had only four full-time employees — by the end the number was 80,000. Post World War II Hughes Aircraft, Douglas Aircraft , North American Aviation , Northrop , Lockheed Aircraft were among the complex of companies in the Aerospace Industry which flourished in Southern California during and after World War II . At one time, Hughes was the largest employer in Southern California. After the war, Hughes ran afoul of the United States Senate . By the summer of 1947, certain politicians had become concerned about Hughes' mismanagement of the Spruce Goose and the XF-11 photo reconnaissance plane project. They formed a special committee to investigate Hughes, but when he successfully tested both planes and then turned them over to the military, they no longer had a target to attack. Despite a highly critical committee report, Hughes was cleared. According to an old-timer at Hughes, when the Spruce Goose Flying Boat was flight-tested, it was filled with beach balls instead of the traditional Ping-Pong balls used when testing most Sea Plane s. Every available beach ball in Los Angeles was purchased for the flight test. After the flight test, the beach balls were handed out to the spectators. In retrospect, this probably shows that Hughes did not intend to fly the aircraft again. Hughes Aerospace Group In 1948 Hughes created a new division of the company, the Aerospace Group. Two Hughes engineers, Simon Ramo and Dean Wooldridge , had new ideas on the packaging of electronics to make complete Fire Control System s. Their MA-1 system combined signals from the aircraft's Radar with an Analog Computer to automatically guide the Interceptor Aircraft into the proper position for firing missiles. At the same time other teams were working with the newly formed US Air Force on air-to-air missiles, delivering the AIM-4 Falcon , then known as the F-98. The MA-1/Falcon package, with several upgrades, was the primary interceptor weapon system in the US for many years, lasting into the 1980s. Ramo and Wooldridge would, having failed to reach agreement with Howard Hughes regarding management problems, resigned in September 1953. They founded the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation , later to join Thompson Products to form TRW , another aerospace company and a major competitor to Hughes Aircraft. In 1953 Howard Hughes created the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and "donated" Hughes Aircraft to this foundation. This was in reaction to the Air Force's threat to cancel missile contracts because of Howard Hughes' management style and aloofness. It has been suggested that this was simply to allow his company to avoid paying taxes. The next year, L.A. "Pat" Hyland was hired as vice president and general manager of Hughes Aircraft; he would ultimately become company president and CEO after Howard Hughes' death in 1976. Under Hyland's guidance, the Aerospace Group continued to diversify and become massively profitable, and became a primary focus of the company. The company developed Radar systems, electro-optical systems, the first working Laser , aircraft computer systems, missile systems, Ion-propulsion Engines (for space travel), and many other advanced technologies, up to the end of the Cold War . and Ronald McNair , two of the astronauts on the Last Flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger were Hughes alumni. Hughes Space and Communications Two groups within the Aerospace Group of Hughes Aircraft Company; Hughes Space and Communications Group and the '''Hughes Space Systems Division''' were later spun off in 1948 to form their own division and ultimately became the '''Hughes Space and Communications Company''' in 1961. They built the world's first geosynchronous Communications Satellite , Syncom , in 1963 and followed it closely with the first geosynchronous weather satellite, ATS-1, in 1966. Later that year their Surveyor 1 made the first soft landing on the Moon as part of the lead-up to the moon landings in Project Apollo . Hughes also built Pioneer Venus in 1978, which performed the first extensive radar mapping of Venus , and the Galileo Probe that flew to Jupiter in the 1990s. The company built nearly 40 percent of the satellites in service worldwide in 2000. Satellite Models Models continued by Boeing and marketed as such, e.g., HS376 as the Boeing 376.
Hughes Helicopters Another division started in 1947 when Helicopter manufacturer Kellett sold their latest design to Hughes for production. The H-17 Sky Crane first flew in October 1952, but was commercially unsuccessful. The company formed a new helicopter division in 1955 called Toolco Aircraft Division that began developing light military helicopters. In May 1965 they won the contract for a new observation helicopter for the U.S. Army , and produced the OH-6 Cayuse (civilian designation Hughes 500), derivatives of which have remained in production under various names to this day. In 1976, Toolco Aircraft Division became '''Hughes Helicopters''', which won the contract for the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, winning the Collier Trophy 1983. By December 1981 6,000 Apaches had been produced. The Tool Company's helicopter test pilots routinely performed "loop the loop" maneuvers on the flight line in Culver City with the OH-6A light helicopters {Link without Title} . As the helicopter flew upward in the loop, the pilot would simultaneously roll it, to re-orient the main rotor upward, at the top of the loop. Hughes' Legacy The amazing range of science and technology spanned by the workers at Hughes Aircraft never included medical applications, because the company was a property of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute , which exists to this day. This restriction was imposed to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. Ironically, medical applications may well become Hughes' greatest legacy. Timeline
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