solely a taxi experiment.
He said he didn't know what might happen.
The mammoth flying plywood shell...
...might ship water under high-speed
taxi pressure. He will not take...
...the craft into the air until next spring.
The thin man from Culver City...
...pronounced the craft an unknown quantity.
He has an idea what it can do...
None of that, now. None of that.
We are about 5 feet
in back of Mr. Hughes.
We are looking through
one of the side windows in the cockpit.
Professor, why don't you
come on up front here.
In other words. We are 30 feet high
in this aircraft.
Strap yourself in right there.
You ought to be able to see just great.
Huge crowds jam the surrounding
shoreline this morning.
All right, boys, let's fire it up.
One's good.
Two's good.
Three's good.
Four's good.
Five's good.
Six is good.
Seven's good.
Eight's good.
- Advancing master throttles.
- Advancing master throttles.
As you probably know.
I have to do a great deal...
...of screaming into our microphone.
- Understood. Lower it 15 degrees of flaps.
- Lowering 15 degrees of flaps.
Howard, she's gotta hit 70
to have any kind of chance.
Yeah, I know. I know.
It's a beautiful day here off the coast
of Southern California. Blue skies...
- ...a warm sun...
- Twenty-five miles per hour.
- And a relatively calm sea...
- Thirty.
Thirty-five.
One would think these eight power plants
might shake the craft to pieces...
Take it easy, Howard.
- Forty!
- Throttling back for starboard turn 180.
Throttling back for starboard turn 180.
The flight crew itself
consists of four men.
Mr. Hughes. However. Has added 11
maintenance men to this maiden taxi test...
...stationed at various places throughout the
ship. Checking points of stress and strain.
How does she sound, Odie?
Sounds good, Howard.
- Professor.
- Yes?
Would you do me a favor?
Would you take a look out that window
and tell me what the wind is doing?
I would say that we have a 15-knot wind.
Would you call that a headwind,
professor?
I would, Mr. Hughes.
We must maintain silence. We must
have quiet during the proceedings.
Mr. Hughes, will you stand and be sworn?
Mr. Hughes. Did you receive...
...$43 million to manufacture 100 XF-11
spy planes for the United States Air Force?
I did.
How many functional planes did you
deliver to the United States Air Force?
None.
Would you lean a little closer
to the microphones, sir?
None.
Did you receive $ 13 million
to manufacture...
...a prototype of a flying boat
known as The Hercules?
I did.
And did you deliver that plane?
I did not.
So by your admission
in this chamber, Mr. Hughes...
...you have received $56 million...
...from the United States government
for planes you never delivered.
That is correct.
Well, excuse me for asking,
Mr. Hughes...
...but where did all that money go?
Well, it went into the planes, senator.
And a lot more.
More? Do tell, Mr. Hughes,
what other larcenies did you commit?
I mean, I put my money
into the planes, senator. My money.
- See, the thing is that I care...
- Your personal finances are not...
Let him speak.
Proceed, Mr. Hughes.
See, the thing is,
I care very much about aviation.
It has been the great joy of my life. That's
why I put my own money into these planes.
And I've lost millions, senator,
and I'll go on losing millions. It's just...
...what I do.
Now, if I've lost a lot of the government's
money during the war, I hope folks...
...will put that into perspective.
More than 60 other airplanes ordered
from such firms as...
...Lockheed, Douglas, Northrop and Boeing
never saw action either.
In all, more than $800 million was spent
during the war on planes that never flew.
Over 6 billion on other weapons
that were never delivered.
Yet Hughes Aircraft, with her 56 million...
...is the only