On Aug. 6, 1947, IN THE FIRST of several such appearances, Howard Hughes told an emotion-charged and sometimes heated US Senate hearing that he had put the sweat of his life and his reputation into his H4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" and if it was a failure he would leave the country and never return. During the hearings, which lasted several months, Hughes snuck in the aircraft's one and only flight on Nov. 2, 1947-about three years after it was contracted to fly. While the 787 program cannot be compared to the Spruce Goose (except for the plane's composite structure), Boeing executives probably are starting to get a hint of the ridicule and humiliation that Hughes felt more than 60 years ago as the troubled Dreamliner remains earthbound nearly 17 months after it rolled out. Two years ago, Boeing was basking in the glow of the 787s sales success. Orders were flowing at an unprecedented rate while Airbus was reeling from the tremendous production delays on the A380 program, not to mention a public tongue-lashing over the A350's design shortfalls from the world's most influential aircraft buyer, International Lease Finance Corp. CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy.
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