Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Culver City, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other products, the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" aircraft, the Galileo spacecraft and the AIM-4 Falcon guided missile.
It was acquired by General Motors from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1985. Hughes Aircraft was put under the um...
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Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American defense contractor founded in 1932 by Howard Hughes in Culver City, California as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other products, the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" aircraft, the Galileo spacecraft and the AIM-4 Falcon guided missile.
It was acquired by General Motors from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 1985. Hughes Aircraft was put under the umbrella of GM Hughes Electronics, now known as DirecTV Group, until GM sold its assets to Raytheon in 1997.
In 1932, Howard Hughes Jr. formed Hughes Aircraft Company operating out of the Grand Central Airport in Glendale, California as a division of the Hughes Tool Company. In 1935, Hughes with his friend and aviation engineer Glenn Odekirk, built the H-1 Racer. They incorporated in its design many successful streamlining concepts including retractable landing gear, a fully enclosed cockpit, wing fairings, and the first use of flush rivets. The...
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