You ought to be able
to see just great.
You can visualize
just how gigantic this ship is.
Huge crowds jam
The surrounding shoreline
this morning...
All right, boys...
Let's fire it up.
[%%]
One's good.
[engine rumbling]
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 by now,
I have to do
A great deal of screaming here
into our microphone.
Odie:
Prop start up.
Understood. Ahem.
Lower 15 degrees of flaps.
Lowering 15 degrees
of flaps.
Howard.
What?
She's gotta hit 70
to have any kind of Chance.
Yeah, I know. I know.
I might add that
it's a beautiful day out here
Off the coast of
southern California.
Crystal-blue skies,
a warm sun...
Twenty-five Miles
per hour.
And a relatively calm sea...
Thirty.
...By the breakwater
of the outer harbor.
Thirty-five.
One would think that
these eight power plants
Might shake the
mighty craft to pieces...
Take it easy,
Howard.
...Craft certainly
is holding up...
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.
[clears throat]
Professor.
Yes?
Do me a favor.
Would you take a look
out that window there
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.
Brewster:
I must insist
that we maintain silence.
We must have quiet
during these proceedings.
All right, Mr. Hughes,
will you stand to 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 microphone, sir?
None.
Did you receive $13 million
to manufacture
A prototype of a flying boat
known as the Hercules?
[clears throat]
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.
[audience murmuring]
Well, excuse me for asking,
Mr. Hughes, but wh--?
Where did all that money go?
Well, it went into
the planes, senator.
And a lot more.
More?
[chuckles]
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--
Mr. Hughes,
your personal finances
Are n-- are not--
Let him speak.
All right,
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 Brewster,
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,
Well, I hope folks will
put that into perspective.
You see, 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 firm
under investigation here today.
Now, I cannot help but think
that has a little more to do
With TWA