Howard Hughes 1938 Round the World Flight

In 1938 one of America’s young millionaires, 33-year old avid aviator Howard Hughes and a crew of four men planned a flight from New York to Paris and other European capitals. They would extend invitations to European aviation interests to participate in the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Unofficially, it was believed Mr. Hughes hoped to extend the flight into a race around the world should fly-over approval be obtained from one remaining European country and thereby beat the time of seven days 19 hours 49 and one half minutes set by Wiley Post in July 1933.

The flight would operate under the banner of the New York World’s Fair, 1939. Howard Hughes was given the title of “aeronautical advisor to the World’s Fair” and his ship, a Lockheed 14 Super Electra (NX18973) all metal monoplane, was christened New York World’s Fair, 1939. The ship, elaborately modified by Hughes and his engineers , was similar to those used by U.S. and European airlines. Howard Hughes would pilot the aircraft, Ed Lund, 32, acting as flight engineer, with Richard Stoddard, 37, as the radio engineer having received a leave of absence from a major network. Thomas L. Thurlow, 33, a first lieutenant in the Army Air Corps and a navigation instrument specialist, along with Harry P. McLean Connor, 38, a former navigator for Panama-Pacific Lines would be the navigators. Flight operations manager for the flight was Al Lodwick based in New York

The Lockheed 14 Super Electra, equipped with two Wright Cyclone engines of 1,100 hp each and with the new Hamilton Standard “hydro-matic” constant speed “full feathering” propellers. The plane had a wingspan of 65 feet and a normal permissible gross weight for airline use of 17,500 lbs. The Hughes aircraft due to an overload of gasoline, equipment and other supplies had a gross weight of 25,000lbs. Six additional fuel tanks were added in the cabin giving it a total capacity of 1,732 gallons of gasoline and a range of 4,700 miles, a thousand miles more than needed for the flight to Paris. The ship also carried 120 gallons of lubricating oil and had a rated top speed of 250mph.
The plane was equipped with a Sperry gyroscope that . . .