On July 15, 1938, at Bennett Airport in Brooklyn, New York, hundreds of media reporters and tens of thousands of New Yorkers were anxiously waiting for the arrival of a person. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

That man was Howard Hughes. After more than three days of round-the-world flight, he is about to land here in a D2 aircraft developed by Hughes Aircraft. (Historically, Hughes was flying a twin-engine "Lockheed" plane that he had modified, and the D2 would not fly until 40 years, so it was necessary to advance a little in advance for the sake of the plot.) ）

Hughes's round-the-world flight was 14,824 miles, passing through Paris, Moscow, Omsk and Yakutsk in Siberia, Fairbanks, Alaska and Minneapolis, averaging 208 miles per hour, more than double the seven-day, 18-hour round-the-world flight set by Willie Post five years ago.

Since returning to the United States a few days ago, John has been busy promoting this "great feat in the course of human civilization." Under his leadership, Hughes's attempt to set the world record for flying around the world was included in the publicity program for the 1939 New York World's Fair. The New York World Expo Bureau has officially named the D2 aircraft piloted by Hughes "1939 New York Universal Exposition".

With the cooperation of the Expo Bureau, John's publicity plan has had a very good effect. For the past two days, not only the United States, but the whole world has focused on this feat of all mankind. During his stopover in Moscow, Hughes was even warmly welcomed by the Soviet government at the airport.

At that time, the Soviets also gave Hughes a lot of special delicacies, but he did not accept them. Because even caviar adds a pound to the plane. Hughes stayed in Moscow for only 15 minutes, and the plane was refueled and immediately took off again.

By the time John confirmed with the airport tower that Hughes was about to arrive, at least 25,000 spectators had gathered at Bennett Airport. People are eagerly awaiting the arrival of this American hero who broke the history of the monopoly flight record of "foreigners".

John hadn't slept for two nights to prepare for the welcoming ceremony. There are so many things to consider when preparing for such a large-scale celebratory parade. So much so that he looks even more haggard now than Hughes looked when he first landed.

John actually took a considerable risk in doing so, and even Harold disapproved of it at first. After all, there's a lot of uncertainty about challenging the world record for flying around the world. Even if John knew that Hughes had succeeded in history, he had been worried for the past two days.

After spending so much money and making such a lot of effort, if something happens to the Hughes plane, how will it end? And judging by the current technical conditions of flight, Hughes's chances of success are not very high.

Before Hughes, two famous pilots had already lost their lives in the process of challenging the world flight record. One was shipwrecked in Alaska shortly after takeoff, and the other was lost over an isolated island in the South Pacific.

Hughes himself was a natural adventurous and romantic aviator (which is why later Americans always regarded him as a legendary hero, not just a rich man or a movie mogul) and his willingness to risk his life for the cause of flying.

John, why do you have to go so hard to shout for him, what are you trying to do?

John did this, of course, not only out of personal friendship with Hughes, nor out of the so-called "national honor" promoted in the media. John saw this as the perfect opportunity to make a name for Hughes Aircraft Company.

Hughes is an idealist who is a good flyer, and as a company owner, he is a bit unreliable, often ignoring the business principles of profit maximization because of personal interests. John is now the majority shareholder of Hughes Aircraft Company, and he can't let Hughes's temperament mess around.

In another year, Roosevelt's order for 50,000 military planes is coming, and he plans to take this opportunity to sell the D2 at a good price.

Historically, the D2 aircraft is Hughes Aircraft's most outstanding work, and Hughes invested more than $6 million to develop it. The aircraft combines Hughes's flying experience with design and modification experience to deliver speed, altitude and a well-curved fuselage.

In John's opinion, its performance is definitely no worse than that of the B-24 "Liberator", and it is definitely a strategic bombing weapon after being converted into a long-range bomber. Unfortunately, historically, this aircraft was finally missed by the US military because of Hughes's stinky temper.

This is simply ridiculous, when the military delegation of the Right Field Base made a special trip to Hughes's aircraft factory to inspect the D2. But because they didn't notify in advance, and Hughes made an appointment with a female star that day, these people were directly chased back by the factory guards.

The military delegation was very annoyed by this, coupled with the previous scandalous things such as the Hughes H1 aircraft design was suspected of being misappropriated by Mitsubishi of Japan, and finally they rejected the D2 aircraft in the report without even looking at the plane, and refused to order.

Now with John, he wouldn't allow that to happen anymore. He had been connected to the military early on through Uncle Stimson, and now Brigadier General Arnold, the commander of the 1st Air Wing of the Army Air Corps, was standing next to him.

Even if he didn't need to be reminded by Uncle Stimson, John would have "stammered" the old brigadier general in his 50s. Marshall had already begun to soar, and while John was in Europe, he had just been appointed deputy secretary of the army and was about to become army chief of staff. (The Secretary of the Army is civilian, and the Chief of Staff is actually the number one person in the Army.) ）

Arnold, who worked with Marshall in the Philippines as early as 1907, is now the first choice for commander of the U.S. Army Air Force. Historically, as soon as Marshall became Chief of Staff of the Army in September, Arnold was promoted to Major General of Army Aviation and later Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army for Air Forces.

After the end of World War II, Arnold was promoted to a five-star general in the Army, and after the independence of the Air Force in 1947, he was re-awarded the title of five-star general in the Air Force, the only "ten-star general" in American history.

What's more, this old man will still be the executor of John's long-coveted 50,000 aircraft order plan in the future, and it is impossible to "stammer" it too much.

Arnold also responded positively to John's kindness. At this time, the status of the army aviation was not high, and it was still far from the future "world's largest air power".

Arnold was a staunch supporter of William Mitchell's theory of an independent air force, and he was a staunch supporter of General Mitchell from his time at the Army College of Engineering. When the Army Military Court convicted General Mitchell of disobedience to his superiors, Arnold also sat on the cold bench for a long time for testifying for Mitchell in court.

Looking back on the entire military career of this veteran pilot, it is simply a history of the independent struggle of the US Air Force. But it wasn't until a year after the retirement of the "father of the modern American Air Force" that the U.S. Congress officially approved the separation of the Army Air Corps from the Army.

Although Arnold's idea of an independent air force is still considered ridiculous by Washington. But this veteran general will not easily let go of any opportunity that can enhance the voice of the "Air Force".

Arnold grasped the olive branch handed over by a rich and well-connected "big man" like John. Moreover, the D2 is indeed a very good aircraft, which is very in line with his military concept of establishing a strategic air force. He had already hinted to John that the military would be very interested if the D2 could be converted into a long-range bomber.

Finally, Hughes's plane emerged from the clouds in the distance, and the atmosphere was enthusiastic, with applause and cheers. From the moment the D2 plane came to a stop on the runway, a new world record was set – 3 days, 19 hours and 17 minutes. After setting the record for a non-stop flight across the continental United States last year, Hughes has once again made history.

The head of the New York World Expo Bureau held a grand welcome ceremony for him at the airport, the mayor of New York City personally attended the speech, and hundreds of media rushed to take pictures of the flying hero. I believe that the next day, Hughes's tired face will appear in newspapers all over the world.

After a brief press conference, Hughes was huddled into an open-top car. He will be welcomed by 2 million New Yorkers to City Hall, where a grand celebration has been prepared.

John could feel that Hughes was physically exhausted, but he was in high spirits. He now somewhat understands why Hughes is so rich, and he is still obsessed with challenging flight records, and he doesn't take his life seriously at all. The sense of accomplishment in this is something that no amount of money can buy.

But then again, Hughes's life is really hard enough. Others toss like him, I don't know how many times I've died. This guy has encountered no less than 20 plane crashes in his life, and he also smokes cocaine, alcoholism, and promiscuity, and finally lives to the age of 70 peacefully, which is really unreasonable.