Dann Lewis

In his later years, Howard Hughes was known for being secretive and eccentric. His wealth enabled him to retain staff who were quite successful in shielding him from the press, process servers and the merely curious.

When Mr. Hughes and his considerable entourage moved from Las Vegas to Nassau, Bahamas in the wee hours of the morning in November of 1970, the fact of his arrival was noticed and widely spread throughout the Island within hours. The advance planning for his move from the U. S. to this off-shore location was extensive, as were the “renovations” that had taken place on the eighth and ninth floors of the Britannia Beach Hotel, where he and his key assistants and security staff were to reside.

Other staff, such as his nine pilots and their families were in rental houses in a modest middle-class neighborhood less than a mile from from the airport. While the somewhat reticent pilots were either on standby at the airport or busy shuttling back and forth to the U. S., their spouses and children were quietly integrated into the neighborhood and inevitably talked about their nomadic experiences facilitated by the whims of their husband’s employer.

At that time, I was involved in negotiations to form Bahamasair with Out Islands Airways, the major fixed base and charter operator at Nassau’s airport. Some time prior to the Hughes presence on the island, the president of Out Island Airways told me that they had a customer who wanted to lease their main hangar, and asked if that would complicate the Bahamasair negotiations. I saw no major difficulties, but asked to see the lease before it was finalized; and soon discovered that the space was to house some of the six aircraft in Howard Hughes personal fleet. Ultimately it was decided that only half of the hangar was required, and the Hughes representatives insisted that a line be painted delineating the space under Hughes lease, and the agreement clearly stated that under no circumstances were any Out Island Airways personnel or third parties (meaning my Bahamasair pilots, flight attendants, and maintenance crews) to step over the line or otherwise trespass in the space rented by Howard Hughes…..

Early in 1972 the entire Hughes contingent withdrew from Nassau with virtually a moments notice. As was reported by the spouses of the pilots, they were notified at noon to pack up, retrieve the children, and be ready to leave the Island no later than 6:00 PM.

The Hughes Nassau invasion ended as quickly as it had begun, and the next we would hear of Mr. Hughes was from his new residence in Nicaragua.

By Dann Lewis

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