When Will It Fly?

For months the aviation industry has speculated on whether or when the world's biggest airplane would ever fly. Last week speculation turned to skepticism. Reason: Charles W. Perelle, the crack production man who had been hired to complete Howard Hughes' 212-ton, 750-passenger flying boat, quit his job in a huff.

Some 18 months ago, Hughes had hired Perelle away from his vice presidency at Consolidated Vultee, given him $75,000 a year to be vice president and general manager of the Hughes Tool Co., manager of the Hughes Aircraft Co., and a director of Transcontinental & Western Air. Those familiar with the eccentric ways of Planemaker Hughes wondered how long Perelle could take it.

Perelle went to work enthusiastically. He speeded up work on the flying boat, got it so nearly finished that the only big job left was to get it from Culver City, Calif, to Los Angeles' harbor, 28 miles away, for final assembly and testing. But the $18,000,000 granted by the Reconstruction Finance Corp. to build the plane had been spent. Although Hughes had agreed to meet any costs over this amount, Perelle went to Washington and saw RFC. Having already sunk so much in the plane, RFC agreed to put up another $1,500,000 to move the plane ($60,000), build a dock ($250,000), assemble the ship and test it ($1,190,000). All Hughes had to do was sign the contract.

Hughes balked. His reason: the contract stipulated that RFC would choose the pilots for test flights, and Hughes wanted to pick his own. Reportedly, he wants to fly the plane himself. Perelle tried for three months to get Hughes to change his mind. Last week he gave up.

What will happen to the flying boat now, nobody knows. RFC, which owns both the plane and the plant it was built in, is anxious to get it away from Culver City. It has already offered the Howard Hughes plant for sale as soon as the plane is moved. But Hughes has shown no signs of moving the plane until RFC agrees to his terms. It may have to eventually--and finance the flights as well--if it ever expects to see what it got for all that money.

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