Hughes confidant, aviation leader Jack Real dies

Thursday, Sept. 8, 2005 | 9:52 a.m.

Aviation pioneer Jack Real enjoyed spending hours on the phone with reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes discussing their favorite subject -- flight.

Real, who worked for more than 30 years for Lockeed, was Hughes' personal advisor on aviation matters from 1957 until Hughes' death in 1976.

But Real's loyalty to Hughes went well beyond Hughes' life span. He took over the sagging Hughes Helicopters division in the late 1970s and turned around the company that eventually was sold to the aviation giant McDonnell Douglas.

Jack G. Real, whose 2003 book "The Asylum of Howard Hughes" told of how some of Hughes' aides allegedly manipulated the ailing tycoon to gain control of his financial empire, died Tuesday in California. He was 90.

In the forward of Real's book, William Rice Lummis, Hughes' first cousin and the administrator of Hughes' estate, wrote: "Jack Real was Howard Hughes' last best friend."

Hughes' longtime confidante Robert Maheu of Las Vegas echoed that sentiment.

"Jack was Howard's best friend because they went back so far together," Maheu said. "Jack tried to save Howard from those who manipulated him and tried to save Hughes' financial empire, but they blocked him at every level.

"Sadly, in the end, poor Howard had to die to save his empire."

The advisors Maheu referred to were Bill Gay and a half-dozen men Gay hired to watch over Hughes.

Collectively called the Mormon Mafia, they were Chuck Waldron, Howard Eckersley, James Rickard, Lamar Myler and George Fracom, all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Johnny Holmes, a Catholic.

That group has maintained they properly cared for Hughes in his time of great frailty.

Maheu has long claimed the group neglected Hughes, resulting in his death at age 70.

In the end, Real reunited with his old friend and accompanied Hughes on a flight to Houston where medical personnel were standing by to try to save his life. Real was at Hughes' side when he died, said local Hughes historian Bob McCaffery, who announced Real's death.

Although Real never lived in Las Vegas, he frequently visited the city over the years and, early on, reported directly to Hughes at Hughes' penthouse atop the old Desert Inn, one of the hotels Hughes bought during his late-1960s gaming resort buying spree.

After personal access to Hughes was denied, Real made frequent phone calls to him, said Hughes bodyguard Gordi Margulis, a Las Vegas resident of 41 years, who noted that Hughes would cheer up when he was told Real was on the line.

"Jack and Howard would spend hours on the phone talking about aviation," said Margulis, who in 1970 helped put Hughes on a Caribbean-bound jet at Nellis Air Force Base that took Hughes away from Las Vegas forever.

"Jack was a really great guy, who cared about Howard and did everything he could to help him."

Lummis recalled in the forward of Real's book how far that help and friendship extended, writing that following Hughes' death, the company fell into crisis, especially the helicopter division, and Real stepped in to save it.

"In the fall of 1979, when Jack was brought in to take charge, he tore into our problems with unbelievable force and energy," Lummis wrote.

"In four short years, he addressed and worked through a myriad of problems throughout the company ... finding solutions to problems that I thought were impossible.

"It is not nearly as widely known as it should be, but Jack Real presided over one of the most remarkable major corporate turnarounds in the annals of American business."

Among Real's accomplishments as president of Hughes Helicopters was the development of the AH-64 Apache sttack helicopter in the late 1970s.

Born and raised in Michigan, Real graduated from Michigan Tech in 1937 and soon after went to work for Lockheed in California.

There, Real designed, developed and tested aircraft including the B-14 Hudson Bomber, the XH-51 and the Lockheed models 286 and 475.

Real met Hughes at Lockheed and they forged a lifelong friendship based on their love of flying machines.

In the 1960s, Real became Lockheed's chief engineer of research, development and testing, working on secret aircraft that were tested at Southern Nevada's mysterious Area 51.

In 1965 Real was named vice president and general manager in charge of the AH-56 A Cheyenne helicopter project and, by 1968, he was responsible for all rotary wing programs at Lockheed.

In 1983, under Real's leadership, Hughes Helicopters received the Robert J. Collier trophy, aviation's highest honor for achievement in American aeronautics.

A year later, Real became president and chief executive officer of McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Company. He retired in 1987.

Real also was instrumental in re-locating the massive Hughes Flying Boat, the "Spruce Goose" to the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Ore. He served as chairman emeritus of that facility until his death.

Real's honors include being a recipient of the Howard Hughes Memorial Award.

A list of survivors was not immediately available.

Services for Real will be 1:30 p.m. Sept. 16 at Holy Redeemer Church, 2411 Montrose Ave, Montrose, Calif. Viewing will be 5-8:30 p.m. Sept. 15 at Crippen Mortuary; 2900 Honolulu, La Crescenta, Calif.

In a news release announcing Real's death, McCaffery wrote that donations can be made in Real's memory to Catholic Charities, the Hurricane Katrina Fund and the Evergreen Museum.