Howard Hughes' Record Flight

Date: July 10, 1938 • Location: Washington, United States

Howard Hughes begins a 91-hour airplane flight around the world that will set a new record.

Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was an American aviator, aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, and an investor. He was one of the richest and most influential people in the world during his lifetime. He first became prominent as a film producer, and then as an important figure in the aviation industry. Later in life, he became known for his eccentric behavior and reclusive lifestyle—oddities that were caused in part by his worsening obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), chronic pain from a near-fatal plane crash, and increasing deafness.