For the next two weeks, Hughes was the hottest figure in the nation. Under John's arrangement www.biquge.info he took the "1939 New York International Exposition" aircraft on tour of major cities in the United States. Everywhere he went, Hughes was warmly welcomed by the local people and became a national idol in the United States.

While the focus of attention has been on the "flying hero" Hughes, the D2 is also beginning to become familiar to the outside world. Under John's dollar offensive, the major media will not be stingy with pen and ink while reporting on Hughes, and will introduce this meritorious aircraft that represents the international leading position of the "American aviation industry".

So far, the publicity effect is very good. There are even toy manufacturers who have taken the initiative to come to the door and want to launch peripheral products for Hughes and D2 aircraft.

Not only John, but also the New York World Expo Bureau was very satisfied with the publicity effect. They have agreed to reserve a booth for Hughes Aircraft Company, where the 1939 New York Universal Exposition will be the star of next year's World's Fair.

As Hughes and the D2 grew famous, John gradually increased his penetration into the Hughes Aircraft Company. John knew Hughes too well, and he was more of a madman than a genius. If you let your investment in Hughes Aircraft Company go unchecked, I don't know how many opportunities to make a fortune you will miss when the time comes.

Fortunately, Hughes himself did not have much interest in managing the company. This is a rich and headstrong guy who only does what interests him and doesn't care about money at all.

At the age of 18, Hughes inherited the family business, Hughes Tools Company (a large company that provided products and services to the oil extraction and processing industry, and was the predecessor of the famous American Baker Hughes Company). But he had no interest in the oil drilling business, and soon dumped the company at the professional managerial level, where he did not bother for many years.

At the age of 21, Hughes was tricked into investing in a bad Hollywood movie and lost $80,000. Arrogant, he threw himself into the film industry in one go, bought 125 movie theaters in one go, and set up his own film company, turning himself into a movie tycoon.

In 1930, Hughes invested $4 million to shoot an air combat blockbuster, "Hell's Angels." In this film, he used more than 80 fighters of various types, 135 pilots with experience in the "First World War", hired nearly half of Hollywood's cameramen, and shot more than 900,000 meters of film.

At that time, no film company dared to do this, only he would not care about whether he could recover the cost or not. Hughes even suspected that the heroine's Norwegian accent did not match the identity of the British nobleman in the film, and forced the crew to change people halfway, and all the previous films were scrapped and remade.

When the film was released, it was almost a sold-out and grossed a staggering $8 million. At that time, Americans' perception of "Hell's Angels" was similar to the feeling of "Avatar" in later generations. Although the film is lackluster in terms of plot and art, the empty battle scenes alone are enough to drive them crazy.

You must know that in the 30s, Hollywood did not have computer stunts, and many of these air battle scenes were filmed with real knives and guns, and even 3 pilots died during the filming. To some extent, Hughes can also be regarded as the originator of Hollywood commercial blockbusters.

Ever since filming Hell's Angels, Hughes has been madly obsessed with aerobatics. Later, when it was not enough to just fly an airplane, he founded Hughes Aircraft Company and began to design and develop his own aircraft.

It can be said that the aircraft company is a toy for Hughes. He poured millions of dollars into it, but he didn't even think to make any money out of it. Before John brought him an order for the volunteer China Air Force, Hughes Aircraft Company's revenue had been zero.

So, John didn't hide at all, he went straight to Hughes and proposed to take over the operations of Hughes Aircraft Company. Hughes is also very cheerful, he has been indulging in the staggered social gatherings these days, enjoying the admiration and favor of people, especially all kinds of beauties, and has no intention of thinking about the development of the company.

He said he agreed to John taking over the company's operations as long as it didn't interfere with his research on new aircraft and guaranteed funding for the research and development projects he led. In Hughes's opinion, John had helped him solve a big problem. He even agreed to John's proposal to set aside 15% of the company's shares as an equity incentive for management.

Hughes was so generous that John had a hint of joy in his heart. Anyway, as long as he takes over the company's operations, it is not up to him to decide how to install the management. By the time John had taken the 15 percent stake, he would have surpassed Hughes and become the de facto owner of the company.

John, who was stunned by the big pie, immediately reached an agreement with Hughes and went to Los Angeles to take office. At this time, it would be nice if someone could remind him of the old saying "Li Ling Zhi is faint".

Hughes is not a fool, although he doesn't care about money. Of course, he knew what John was up to, but he also had his own considerations.

Asking John to guarantee R&D project funding is a hole he dug for John. If John's company doesn't run well, he will make money faster than Hughes must have burned money, and it is not certain who will work for whom at that time.

If John had known that Hughes had historically spent $14 million on the development of the KH1, a giant seaplane, he would not have agreed so easily. (With a total length of 97.5 meters, a height of 15.2 meters, and a weight of more than 300 tons, the KH1 giant seaplane was the largest aircraft in the world at that time.) It's a pity that World War II ended when it was developed, and in the end the military didn't buy a single one. ）

But John didn't realize what the problem was. He rushed to Los Angeles in high spirits, and the first thing he did as general manager was to move Hughes Aircraft Company. California is a place where U.S. airlines are located, but there's no need to build an aircraft factory in Los Angeles.

Those who know understand that you Hughes are close to your Hollywood set, and it is convenient, but those who don't know think you are showing off your wealth. This land is many times more expensive than the factory. Wouldn't it be good to learn from other airline companies and get a piece of land outside of Los Angeles or near San Diego or Orange County?

Over the next few days, John spent his days searching for a buyer for Hughes Aircraft Company's land and a new location in a nearby city and county in Los Angeles. It's easy to say that the company's original land is still quite popular. The key was the new location, and John had a lot to consider.

First of all, the place should be big enough. John's planned new factory was not a small workshop with a few dozen people, but had to leave enough space for the future wartime huge orders to be produced.

Secondly, it should not be too far away from the city, otherwise it will be a problem to recruit workers, and it will not be easy to retain talents. It is better not to be too far away from other aircraft factories to facilitate the formation of a cluster effect.

Then it is necessary to be as close to the sea as possible to facilitate the external transportation of products. In the future, most of the aircraft produced by the factory will be exported.

Finally, the local meteorological and geological conditions should be better, and there should not always be typhoons, heavy rains, dense fog and other weather that affect the test flight. Moreover, California is also an earthquake-prone zone, and it would be miserable if you really won the lottery and encountered an earthquake.

With so many things to do, John alone must not be able to keep busy. FedEx is already on the right track, but seeing that the management reform pilot of the Los Angeles branch is about to bear fruit, he can't draw people from the company.

In the end, John had no choice but to recruit a team of professional managers while temporarily bringing little Tom over to help. Speaking of which, if Tom Jr. had been training for a few more years, he would have been the ideal person to take over the affairs of Hughes Aircraft.

But now, John didn't dare let go. It's not that he's afraid he'll make the company yellow. Instead, he was afraid that he would be led crooked by Hughes.

Little Tom is a bit of a Hughes brain-dead fan, if these two people really get mixed up and finally make a "Iron Man" II (Stan Lee created the comic "Iron Man" based on Hughes), how can John explain to Thomas Watson Sr.

Of course, these are not John's biggest headaches. John's biggest concern was how to assemble the R&D team for the D2 long-range bomber modification project and the P-51 fighter design project. These require professional talents, and they cannot be solved by hiring a few professional managers.

And these projects that John fancy are the most "lucrative" projects in the future, and he must grasp them in his own hands. As for Hughes, John was certainly immobile. He was able to play his own game, don't interfere, John is thankful.

Fortunately, although the Hughes Aircraft Company is now small, there are still a few capable people. Simon Remo and Dean Woodridge, two young engineers, became John's key targets.

Historically, neither of these men was idle. After World War II, it was these two young men who took the lead in Hughes Aircraft Company. In the '50s, the two men quit their jobs and started their own company after falling out with Hughes, who had an increasingly eccentric personality. This company was TRW, another major military industrial giant in the United States.

John built a new R&D team with Simon and Dean as the core. As for Hughes himself, John alone set up a wholly-owned "Hughes Laboratory" for him. Let him play how he likes, John doesn't care.

Historically, this "Hughes Lab" has produced a lot of black technology. The world's first geostationary communication satellite, geostationary meteorological satellite, and lunar soft landing probe all came from this laboratory. In the future, Lord "Iron Man" will bring John some unexpected surprises, maybe it's not clear.