by David D.
While managing ground
activities for the JetStar commercial jet that Lockheed built, I had an unusual
encounter with Howard Hughes. The aircraft flew from home at Marietta, Georgia,
to California for testing. The test director was named Robert Gross,
coincidently the same name as the chairman of the board of Lockheed. One of
major tests at Edward Air Force Base on a thrust stand was interrupted by call
from a “Bob Gross” ordering us to
stop and fly the aircraft to Lockheed's Palmdale facility. The call could not
be verified. However, the test engineer thought it best to follow the order
because he thought it was from our test director, Bob Gross. Upon arriving at
Palmdale, David and his crew were met by two civilian guards from Hughes
Aircraft with orders to quarantine the ship and spray it down for any
contaminations that their “Papa” was
going to fly the aircraft. "Who the
hell is your Papa?" asked David. "Howard
Hughes, Boy, know who that is?" was the answer. To make a long story
short, Howard Hughes was allowed to fly only after team found out that Jack
Reale, vice president for Lockheed, made the call, claiming to be "the Bob Gross, CEO" ordering the
flight on his own. Reale was the only person Hughes would talk to at Lockheed.
Hughes boarded the aircraft dressed in very casual clothes, with no belt and
deck shoes, and made a test flight that was important to future JetStar sales.
