Howard Hughes in 1938

Howard Hughes’s fortune began with a Houston drill bit

ByRenée Castellano

Photo: AnonymousUnknown author, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Howard Robard Hughes Jr. was born in Houston in 1905. His father, Howard Sr., had developed a two-cone rotary drill bit in 1909 that could cut through hard rock, and the Sharp-Hughes Tool Company, later Hughes Tool, leased the bits to oil drillers. The bit transformed oil drilling and made the family rich.

His mother died when he was 16 and his father when he was 18. Hughes bought out his relatives’ shares and took control of the company.

Hollywood and aviation

Hughes used Hughes Tool’s profits to finance films, including Hell’s Angels and Scarface, and later bought RKO studios. He was also an aviator and set speed records. In 1938, he flew around the world in about 91 hours, a record, and received a ticker-tape parade in New York.

He founded Hughes Aircraft, which became a major defense contractor, and built the large wooden flying boat known as the Spruce Goose. He controlled Trans World Airlines for years.

Later life

Hughes became increasingly reclusive and lived in hotels in Las Vegas and elsewhere. He sold Hughes Tool’s drilling division in 1972.

He died in 1976 on a plane flying from Acapulco to Houston. He is buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston, near his parents. The company his father founded became part of Baker Hughes, which still operates in Houston, a link between his fortune and the city’s oil industry.

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