County Had a Chapter in Billionaire’s Life Story

Howard Hughes made a number of forays into Orange County during his Hollywood years.

In 1946, according to “Howard Hughes: The Untold Story,” Hughes attended a Fourth of July boating party to Santa Catalina Island that began at the Newport Beach home of producer Bill Cagney, brother of actor James Cagney.

During the party, Hughes’ attention was captured by a stunningly beautiful 19-year-old starlet. Her name was Jean Peters. That Peters was having a hot affair with her date, World War II hero Audie Murphy, didn’t deter Hughes, a notorious lady’s man.

Instead of boarding one of two yachts for the cruise to Catalina, Hughes volunteered to fly Peters, Murphy and several other guests across the channel. Hughes, naturally, arranged to have Peters sit next to him in the cockpit. Eleven years later, the former Ohio farm girl became the second Mrs. Howard Hughes.

Hughes’ most historic link to Orange County, however, occurred a decade earlier, on Sept. 13, 1935--Friday the 13th.

Hughes had ordered a team of engineers, scientists and mechanics to build him the fastest airplane in the world. The resulting Silver Bullet, says authors Pat Broeske and Peter Harry Brown, would make Hughes a household name.

Hughes flew down to Eddie Martin Field in Orange County, where his official speeds would be clocked.

Among the three pilots flying directly behind Hughes were Amelia Earhart and Hollywood stunt pilot Paul Mantz.

Hughes gained speed by flying over the Santa Ana mountains then headed toward the air field. Flying past the trackers and photo monitors seven times, he posted speeds of up to 355 mph--a new record.

But then Hughes signaled to Earhart in her plane that he would make one more pass from a higher altitude.

Earhart watched the stubby-looking red and silver metal plane streak downward. But at only 1,400 feet above the field, something went wrong. Hughes tried to pull the plane up, but his engine had died: The first gas tank had gone dry. Hughes frantically tried opening a second tank. The whining plane wouldn’t level out.

But luck, say the authors, was with Hughes: He managed to land the plane in a Santa Ana beet field.

When the ground crew arrived, an undaunted Hughes flashed a lopsided grin.

“She’ll do better than this,” he said. “She’ll do 365; I just know it.”

A mechanical autopsy was later performed on the plane, and a wad of steel wool was found jammed into the pipe leading to the auxiliary gas tank; the steel wool was held in place with a small lead wire.

Someone, the authors say, apparently had programmed the Silver Bullet to crash.