Hughes Aircraft Company

Not to be confused with Hughes Helicopters.
Hughes Aircraft Company
IndustryAerospace and defense
(Defense and Communications Electronics)
Founded1934; 90 years ago (1934) in Glendale, California
FounderHoward Hughes
Defunct1997; 27 years ago (1997)
FateSold to Raytheon
Headquarters
Culver City, El Segundo and Westchester
,
United States
Key people
Revenue$11B peak, 1986
OwnerHughes Tool Company (1934)
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (1953)
General Motors Corp (1985)
Number of employees
84,000 peak, 1985

The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of Hughes Tool Company.[1] The company produced the Hughes H-4 Hercules aircraft, the atmospheric entry probe carried by the Galileo spacecraft, and the AIM-4 Falcon guided missile.[2][3]

Hughes Aircraft was founded to build Hughes' H-1 Racer world speed record aircraft, and it later modified other aircraft for his transcontinental and global circumnavigation speed record flights. The company relocated to Culver City, California, in 1940 and began manufacturing aircraft parts as a subcontractor.[4] Hughes attempted to mold it into a major military aircraft manufacturer during World War II. However, its early military projects ended in failure, with millions of dollars in U.S. government funds expended but only three aircraft actually built, resulting in a highly publicized U.S. Senate investigation into alleged mismanagement.[5] The U.S. military consequently hesitated to award new aircraft contracts to Hughes Aircraft, prompting new management in the late 1940s to instead pursue contracts for fire-control systems and guided missiles, which were new technologies. The company soon became a highly profitable industry leader in these fields.[6][7]

In a 1953 accounting maneuver designed to reduce his income tax liabilities, Howard Hughes donated most of Hughes Aircraft's stock and assets to a charity he created, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), and subsequently ceased managing the company directly.[8] Hughes retained a small cadre of engineers under his personal control as the Hughes Tool Company Aircraft Division, which initially operated from the same Culver City complex as Hughes Aircraft, despite being separately owned and managed. This entity subsequently became fully independent from Hughes Aircraft and changed its name to Hughes Helicopters.[9][10] After Hughes' 1976 death, Hughes Aircraft was acquired by General Motors from HHMI in 1985 and was put under the umbrella of Hughes Electronics which became DirecTV, until GM sold its assets to Raytheon in 1997.[11][12]

  1. ^ Francillon 1990, p. 18.
  2. ^ "Hughes Aircraft". www.centennialofflight.net. Archived from the original on 7 June 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  3. ^ Parker, Dana T. Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II, pp. 49–58, Cypress, CA, 2013.
  4. ^ Francillon 1990, pp. 18–19.
  5. ^ Bartlett & Steele 1979, pp. 158–159.
  6. ^ Bartlett & Steele 1979, pp. 170–172.
  7. ^ Francillon 1990, pp. 21–22.
  8. ^ Bartlett & Steele 1979, pp. 199–201.
  9. ^ Bartlett & Steele 1979, pp. 349–350.
  10. ^ Francillon 1990, pp. 25–26.
  11. ^ "Hughes Electronics Corporation - American corporation". britannica.com. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  12. ^ Parker, Dana T. Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II, p. 49, Cypress, CA, 2013.