Howard Hughes 1905-1976

This note is from Hughes to Jim Floyd. Jim designed the Avro Jetliner and it was built in Toronto. It was the first "Jet Powered" transport in North America (1950), loosing the world title to the DeHavilland Comet by only 13 days. The Jetliner was toured all over the US and Hughes wanted a fleet of them for his TWA airline. Many other airlines and the USAF tried to place orders.

Jim won the Wright Bros Gold Medal for Aviation design for the Jetliner design. It was the only time the award had been awarded to a non American, and was cast in solid gold.

Then Jim lead the design of the Avro Arrow, after cancellation, he assisted 33 of his engineers to obtain work with NASA, while Jim went back to UK, established JCFloyd and Associates, and worked on the Concorde design for 12 years, before returning to Canada. Incidentally Jim stated upon the retirement of the Concorde fleet, that the aircraft used the Avro Arrow flight control system and many other major systems designed by Avro Canada in the 1950's.
Courtesy of Arrow Recovery Canada, www.AvroArrow.Org