Hughes built the world's biggest wooden hangar to build the giant plane (still standing, and so is the record)... here we see her disassembled and wrapped, on her way to her final assembly point .
Just over a year later, Hughes found himself in hot water...it was, apparently, a classic case of business competitors using the government to take out a rival. The sordid accusations included receipts for nylons and flowers, supposedly paid for with funds loaned by the government for the HK1 and F11 projects. The ploy to smear Hughes by dredging up proof of lavish entertainment provided for Defense insiders backfired when several attending officials admitted freely they often went to Hughes' parties...
The fact that millions had been spent and no aircraft yet delivered seemed secondary, all of a sudden.
Warren Brewster, who Hughes revealed to the press was in the pocket of his archrival, Pan Am president Juan Trippe. Whoops.
Hughes seemed more angry than worried...the commitee never finished its investigation after Hughes retaliated... it must have been a relief to get back to work on a flying prototype of the HK1.
Next: The Hercules gets wet!
