Sixty-Something: The Real Maverick Howard Hughes, Top Gun, and the Hamptons

Aviation is a hot topic these days with the new blockbuster movie “Top Gun: Maverick” in the news. The talk of the east end as well as the nation has been the huge buzz created by people actually going back to movie theaters and watching this movie. It celebrates the return of the “need for speed,” along with perhaps a need to do things surrounded by others.

The east end has a myriad of fascinating stories and tales usually passed down and occasionally posted or written about. Often these tales center around a legendary character such as Babe Ruth. Ruth loved duck hunting in Bridgehampton back in his time.

One of my favorites tales has to be story of Howard Hughes and his Bridgehampton episodes of landing his plane on the Hayground Airstrip, so he could go visit his girlfriend.

On September 13, 1935 Howard Hughes’ “H-1 racer,” became the fastest plane in the world going 352 mph over Santa Ana, California. He, too, had the “need for speed.” The “H-1 racer” is prominently on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

While driving through Bridgehampton, on Route 27 you can see a “used car” location that was once the service station originally opened by one B.J. Corrigan in 1930. The original Corrigan’s sign still exists. There was once a Hayground airstrip located only a quarter mile from Corrigan’s Gas Station/Repair shop. B.J. Corrigan was a mechanic and renowned master of the art of repairing gas engines.

This following story was first told to me by legendary mechanic and Southampton local Swede Edwards. Through Swede’s effort I was able to contact B.J. Corrigan’s son, Bernard “Barney” Corrigan to confirm it.

Bernard Corrigan recalled that Howard Hughes used to commute to the east end and land his plane on the local airstrip once owned by a George Strong, called Hayground Airstrip. Today it is now a potato patch. Howard Hughes, one of the great mechanical minds of his times had become friends with B.J. Corrigan, even taking him flying with him. The story goes that Howard had a female interest who had ownership affiliation with a local watering hole called the “Step In,” that later on would be renamed “Julie’s.”

With limited radio service and no cell phones, texts or emails, Howard Hughes would literally do a low-level flyby and buzz the gas station to get B.J. Corrigan’s attention that he was landing nearby. Then B.J. would get into his Plymouth, pick Howard Hughes up, and lend one of the wealthiest playboy aviators and airplane pioneers in the U.S.A. his car. That Plymouth would then end up parked in front of the “Step In.” This went on for a few years.

Amazingly enough, Howard Hughes also landed a sea plane on Georgica Pond. He was giving a ride to Peter Herrick and Larry Gourlay whose family he was visiting.

Hughes, born in Humble, Texas, went to prep school in Boston. While there he met a classmate who took him for his first visit to the Hamptons to play golf at the then new National Golf Links course.

Long island has quite an aviation history. Amazingly, over 1,000 people assembled on May 27th, 1927 at Roosevelt Field in Hempstead, Long Island to watch Charles Lindbergh and his plane, “The Spirt of St. Louis,” take off for Paris. The rest is history. Three years later Leroy Grumman opened Grumman Corporation in Baldwin, Long Island. His company, originally actually making truck frames, received a U.S. Navy contract in 1931 to engineer retractable landing gear. Eventually Grumman would create these historic fighter planes. The F4F Wildcat, F6F Hellcat, TBF Avenger, A-Intruder, the F-14. Grumman also produced the Lunar Landing Module (LEM) the vehicle that successfully landed on the moon.

The connection from Howard Hughes to Tom Cruise being the Maverick character in Top Gun is a straight line connecting us all with the fascination of the magnificence of fast military planes.