US // Howard Hughess & Crew / Houston Airport
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. (December 24, 1905 April 5, 1976) was an American aviator, industrialist, film producer/director, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest people in the world. He gained fame in the late 1920s as a maverick film producer, making big budget and often controversial films like Hell's Angels, Scarface, and The Outlaw.
As an aviator, Hughes set multiple world air-speed records, for which he won many awards, including the Congressional Gold Medal, and both the Harmon and Corbin trophies; the Harmon Trophy was awarded for his 1938 flight round-the-world in just over 91 hours. Hughes with his flight crew of Harry Connor (co-pilot), Thomas Thurlow (navigator), Edward Lund (flight engineer), and Richard Stoddard (radio operator) made this note-worthy flight. They were assisted by Al Lodwick, vice president of Curtis-Wright who handled flight operation & clearances, landing permits and enroute fuel provisioning. On July 10, 1938 Hughes and crew departed Floyd Bennett Field, Long Island New York and flew round-the-world in a Lockheed 14 Lodestar Super Electra Monoplane with the primary sponsoring of the New York World's Fair for whom he served as an aeronautical advisor.
New York World's Fair 1939, as the airplane was called, was the official emblem of the city's forthcoming international exposition, a goodwill missionary to the rest of the globe. The Electra was practically a flying laboratory, and he needed a four-man crew to help him manage it. The flight itself was strictly business all the way: New York to Paris, to Danzig, to Moscow, to Alaska, to Minneapolis, and matter-of-factly back to Floyd Bennett Field, on schedule, promoting the concept of air travel to visit the upcoming fair. Hughes was carrying his own radio station, and he broadcast live to the world from midair, also promoting the Fair. Hughes also wanted to demonstrate the triumph of technology and what was possible in the future.
As pert of the promotion Hughes took several US (ZFC3062) and Worlds fair flags (ZFC3063) on the circumnavigation; Worlds Fair president Grover Whalen had appointed him Ambassador, dispatched Hughes to carry New York's cordial wishes to the peace-loving peoples of the Earth. He flew out of Floyd Bennett on Sunday evening the 10th of July, and for three days, in what were otherwise dark and troubled times, the peace flight was at the top of the world headlines.
This photograph was taken at the Houston airport after the NYC ticker-tape parade for the celebration and parade in Texas. It is from Howard Hughes personal around the world photo album which was entrusted to his flight operations manager, Al Lodwick, where it was displayed for sometime in Al Lodwicks Aviation Academy at Avon Park, Florida. The album has since come apart and a lot of the photos have lost their stick from the pages or were simply loose and not placed in the album which is the case of this one.
This photo is their greeting in Houston after the flight and their ticker tape parade in NY. They are about to proceed with their ticker tape parade in Houston. This photo is from the estate of Al Lodwick
