I highly recommend the movie "The Aviator".  Great movie and the DVD has special features about Howard Hughes and aviation on it.  Lots of flying and cool planes.

Jim

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You might not have noticed the topic on this subject in the Specific Aircraft Types forum where someone posted this link. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3897/is_200406/ai_n9455603#continue

I think this is the most likely explanation. The author is talking to Rae Hopper, the general manager of Hughes Tools, who was one of the people aboard the Hercules on that test flight. Quote:

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I can think of worse ways to live. Howard Hughes was one of life's real characters which is why people will always be interested in him. He was an extemely wealthy man who in later life became an obsessive compulsive. It's not unusual for people who have everything to act a little differently to 'normal' people but at least he put his wealth to practical use. What he did during his later years is a little hazy but I reckon he'd done far more during his life than most of us mere mortals can only dream of.

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I keep meaning to watch this film but I'm not convinced it will be any more accurate than most things that come out of Hollywood.

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I was told during a visit to Las Vegas that Hughes who had a home there had proposed installing huge extractor fans in the surrounding mountains to disperse the permanent smog haze that hovers over the city. Although he offered to do this at his own expense it was turned down by the city councillors.

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I got the impression that the general concensus now is that it was quite feasible & would have been very effective. It would also have been a great deal cheaper at the time he proposed it. The main objection to it was that tunneling through the mountains would have spoiled the general environment but if this had been done as he proposed it would have been hardly noticeable when finished.

Poor old Howard Hughes... he was one of a kind.
The story I recall about that flight was that:
-He wasn't intending to take off (insurance or shareholder pressure or something; it wasn't really "ready")
-He waited until most reporters had left because a highly-publicised-that is, highly photographed- mishap or general failure would've been financially disastrous (same concerns as above, not to mention the whole Federal case)
-Although it was kept airworthy for a while afterwards, he more or less ordered it grounded... he was notorious for doing that. I have a magazine somewhere with an article quoting one of his pilots; the guy told a few similar tales of Hughes buying or building a plane, flying it once or twice, then parking it somewhere with strict orders to keep it ready to go, but forbidding anyone to fly it. Typically, he would never touch it again...
  I agree that it was probably underpowered for flights at its expected GTW, although being made specifically for transoceanic flights, there'd be plenty of room for a long takeoff run, and she wouldn't have had to climb much.
  She's quite an extraordinary piece of carpentry- love that big bird.
Another interesting tidbit from the article: Hughes was also inclined to take off in the LA area and just bomb right thru the controlled airspace without touching the microphone. Maybe a flunky would call ATC on the phone and advise them to start moving flights around because he was coming; hard to believe he got away with that!
Really sad what became of him; perhaps today he might've been helped.