The Wilmington morning star., 1947-08-10

plete, than any other plane-that
is the first design, the prototype"
Senator Pepper D-Fla1 asked
him to repeat that. He did.
And he added that the criticism
leveled at the plane was unjusti-
fled.
Questioned by Ferguson, Hughes
acknowledged at one point that ne
had registered at hotels under the
name OF ]. B. Alexander. He said
he also had used names of other
persons, persons who wouldn't o.
ject, to escape attention by insur-
ance agents and others.
Ferguson meyer brought out Why
ne was interested in the matter.
Hughes had said earlier that one
Of the reasons army officers
mated" him was that one of his
employees, ]. B. Alexander, had
protested it was unfair to swing
a contract for interceptors to
Lockheed.
Hughes had testified that after
the army turned down an orler
for the ship in which he set new
speed records before the war, it
asked him to design an intercept
tor.
He said he got the idea for a
twin-engine fighter and went
ahead with it somewhat fearfully.
He said he was sure no one
else had considered such a plane.
But hen the design was ready
for submission, ne said, the army
told him he would have to sit On it
while Lockheed designed a plane.
After taking some of his laid eff
employees, Hughes said, ockheed
came along with a twin-engine
plane and got the contract.
Years later, he said, he heard
that j. B. Alexander "%quarreled"
with officers at Wright Field, Day
ton, Ohio, claiming 'favoritism'
was shown Lockheed.
Hughes said members Of the
evaluation board told him his de-
sign was better liked but that
there was some feeling Lockheed
could produce more planes be-
cause of a slightly" bigger plant.
There was a brief pause for a
slight row when Ferguson started
to switch to another subject.
Hughes-"You broke in o nme
as usual"
Ferguson-"You can 60 ahead,
without criticiing the committed"
Hughes-"You criticize me fire.
quently. You read a piece"
Ferguson-'I thought it was a
proper question"
H~ughes-"I don't dispute it was
a proper question. 1 dispute that
you broke in on me while l was
trying to answer another"
Ferguson-I didn't know that
From the audience came subdued
smokers.
TO get back to Alexander
Hughes resumed, apparently his
remarks caused : bad feeling at
Wright field toward me and my
company
Il couldn't get to first base sell
ing anything to the army" he
said, although I had an outstand-
ing record as a pilot and design
er."
Hughes said he felt he got
trough treatment" But ne said he
decided to use his own money and
develop secretly a plane so SEN
sational the army would have to
accept it,"
That was the Do, a plastic two
engine mediu m bomber which
later vas converted into the KILL
reconnaissance model for which
he finally got a contract.
The army didn't Like him,
Hughes said, for some additional
reasons. One was that he built the
plane behind locked doors and or
dered that no outsiders be admit
ted.
He said he wouldn't have gone
to the extent Of barring Gen. H.
H. Arnold, wartime chief of the
air force. But he said his orders
were carried out by others when
Arnold wanted to see the plane
while on a trip t California.
AS a result of the accumulation
of these incidents and the Alex
ander affair, Hughes said, THE
army didn't want to touch me
with a 10-foot pole"
So, he said, he wound up with
two contracts half way through
the war, contracts that were not
finished during the war and that
nobody else could have complet-
ed"
Getting back to the flying cargo
carrier, Hughes said he supposed
if was Extremely doubtful" an
other approximating it ever will
be built. Certainly, he said, it
would be of metal rather than
wood.
His contract, he said, forbade
use of scarce materials. Use of