In 1934, at the age of 28, Howard Hughes won his first racing trophy in a custom-modified Boeing 100A biplane. From there, he would go on to form the Hughes Aircraft Company, which he started in hangar space rented from Lockheed according to Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology, and eventually bought a major airline, TWA, in 1939.
When WWII hit, Hughes became obsessed with creating aircraft for the military and focused on building something capable of transporting troops and supplies across the Atlantic Ocean. The end result of his efforts was the largest wooden airplane ever constructed, the Hughes H-4 Hercules, more commonly known as the Spruce Goose, a nickname Hughes hated. Made out of laminated birch, not spruce, because the use of metals was limited during wartime, Hughes spent $18 million of his own money on the plane, and the United States government coughed up the remaining $22 million. By the time the plane was completed, the war had ended and there was no longer a use for it. The Spruce Goose made one voyage, flown by Hughes, for only one mile, and was never flown again. It's currently maintained as the focal point of the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in Oregon.
According to the authors of the book "Howard Hughes: The Untold Story," when Hughes was dying, he told an aide, "I hope I'm remembered for my aviation achievements. I don't want the biographers digging up all the women."
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