DS, signed “Howard R. Hughes” at the conclusion of the first page, one page both sides, 8.5 x 14, March 15, 1932. Partially printed retain title note and contract in which Hughes agrees to transfer to Arthur B. Chalk one Waco airplane, No. NC-645BN, for which Hughes is to receive the sum of $2000; Chalk, in turn, agrees to release Hughes from any further obligation related to damage Hughes had done to a similar Waco plane rented from Chalk only two days earlier. 1932 proved to be a turning point in Hughes’ life and financial empire. His longtime interest in aviation became his full-time obsession, beginning with the modification of a military pursuit plane into a racer, and, in tandem, the formation of the Hughes Aircraft Company. By the end of the decade, he had become a record-breaking pilot and a national hero, and aircraft (and later, entire airlines) would remain Hughes’ primary interest for the next several decades. A. B. Chalk, the “second party” of this document who has signed beneath Hughes’ name, was himself an important aviation pioneer. Chalk began a charter flight service in Miami in 1917; in 1919 he instituted regularly scheduled flights as Chalk’s Flying Service, thus predating all similar “oldest airline” claims. The business soon flourished, helped largely by Prohibition-era bootlegging. Though Chalk himself died in 1977, the carrier he founded continues to operate as Chalk’s Ocean Airways. The document is accompanied by a letter from Hughes’ attorney, dated March 15, 1932, stating, in part, “I trust you gentleman have satisfactorily settled your differences over the damage to Mr. Chalk’s plane, as I feel there is considerable economy, on your part at least, in effecting the settlement.” The reverse of the letter bears pencil calculations of the sums involved and the text of a telegram, in an unknown hand, which reads, “N[oah] Dietrich [Hughes’ longtime aide] Caddo Co. Hollywood Ca. Cable me two thousand dollars Bank of Bermuda Ltd. Hamilton Bermuda, Flynn.” A superb and desirable aviation-related item from one of the most colorful—and, from a collector’s standpoint, elusive—of twentieth-century personalities. In fine condition, with light toning and expected folds. COA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and R&R COA.
