It is unclear precisely how long a man who called himself Barry O’Beirne lived a tranquil existence in Daly City, which is a small town located only a few miles south of San Francisco. It is also unclear what he was doing on the morning of Wednesday, June 6, 2018, when special agents from the Air Force came to his door after a period of 35 years, arrested him for desertion, and took him into custody.
Many parts of William Howard Hughes Jr.’s life are missing from the puzzle of his life. After vanishing into thin air in 1983, he was sought by several organizations throughout the world, including the Air Force, the FBI, and Interpol. He was supposed to have deserted to the Russians at one point. Some speculated that he was responsible for destroying the Challenger space shuttle launch. Even despite his recent arrest, much of this unusual tale will remain a mystery for all time. Here’s what is known.
Hughes was born in Seattle in 1950 to an airline worker father and three sisters. He left the Pacific Northwest in his twenties to join the Air Force, which he joined in 1973. He was a captain at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the age of 33 when he got top secret clearance while working on a NATO program that oversaw missile launches and missile warning systems.
Hughes moved to Albuquerque, where he purchased a small house close to the base and lived by himself. In July of 1983, he was sent on a temporary assignment to the Netherlands to work on the same technology that was being developed there. It was expected that he would return to Kirtland on August 1st.
Hughes disappeared without ever returning to his aviation base. In late July, the Air Force discovered that he had used his debit card at 19 separate ATMs in the Albuquerque area to withdraw a total of $28,500. Looking through his Chandelle Loop house, we discovered notes for when he got back, as well as books he wanted to read. His vehicle was discovered at the airport in Albuquerque. On August 10, 1983, William Howard Hughes was officially marked as being away from work.
In New York City, Donald Trump, then 37 years old, was nearing completion of Trump Tower. In all likelihood, we wouldn’t see Hughes again until Trump took office as president.
The Cold War’s last days were gloomy when Hughes vanished. The US government would later describe the likelihood of a nuclear strike in the fall of 1983 as resting on a “hair trigger.”
An Air Force captain at Kirtland told an Arizona Journal reporter, “that has to be an option” when asked if Hughes had defected to the Russians during his recent trip to Europe.
Although he was never charged with being a spy, on December 9, Hughes was officially labeled a deserter, which carries a penalty of 5 years in jail or the death penalty during times of war.
Five months after he went missing, in January, his picture was published in the Chicago Tribune after the Air Force passed it to local authorities.
The disappearance of a captain “with top secret clearance under strange circumstances” was verified by Pentagon authorities. In an effort to calm public concerns, the FBI assured the media that “there is no sign of espionage at this moment,” despite widespread suspicions at the height of the Cold War.
Finally breaking their silence after months, Hughes’ sisters in Seattle denied rumors that he was a spy and instead said he had been kidnapped. His absence was “completely out of character for the Bill we knew,” his sister, Christine Hughes, said. They had doubts that he had left on his own.
William’s parents and siblings said in a prepared statement that he was a clever, committed guy who kept in touch with them often via phone before he disappeared. Hughes always made sure to let his family know where he was, so they would know where to find him at the upcoming family reunion in the fall.
Numerous law enforcement, military, and foreign organizations looked everywhere for Hughes without any luck. The Air Force is said to have questioned friends and coworkers, but their efforts were in vain.
Christine Hughes, Hughes’s sister, told the Seattle Times a year later, “The holidays are the worst time. We make sure we’re together to try and help each other through.”
Many people think that Tad Szulc, an international reporter for the New York Times, was the first person to tell the public about the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. He is the second journalist to talk about Hughes in public.
In his 1986 Los Angeles Times article headlined “Sabotaged Missile Launches?” Szulc observed a strange run of unsuccessful US and French space rocket and missile launches in recent months. Three aircraft launches with US surveillance satellites onboard, including the Challenger space shuttle, which launched from Cape Canaveral on January 28 and exploded 73 seconds later, killing all seven crew members, have been identified as possibly sabotage-related. Because of these problems, the US can’t keep an eye on Russia’s nuclear deployment.
In the paper, Szulc mentioned just one plausible candidate as the potential saboteur, alleging that his Pentagon contacts informed him so. He stated that Hughes’ knowledge was worth its weight in gold.
The incident, and the missing Air Force captain, were virtually forgotten by the public as the Cold War began to melt.
A study of the archives indicates that between 1987 and 2017, William Howard Hughes’ name was never mentioned in the news.
In June 2018, special agents from the US Department of State visited Daly City as part of a passport fraud investigation to interrogate a person known as Barry Timothy O’Beirne.
“After being confronted with inconsistencies about his identity, the individual admitted his true name was William Howard Hughes Jr., and that he deserted from the U.S. Air Force in 1983,” the Air Force news release read.
Hughes had been living with his wife in a modest two-bedroom, two-bath townhouse on the peaceful suburban street of Michelle Lane, only a few miles south of San Francisco’s city line.
Neighbors of the guy they knew only as “Tim” were taken aback when they discovered they were living next to the Air Force’s most wanted man.
Neighbors thought “Tim” was retired and only knew that he liked the Giants because he was said to be a recluse.
It was then discovered that Hughes, under the alias Barry Timothy O’Beirne, had worked as a consultant and actuary at the University of California at Oakland in the early 2000s. Members of his staff only had good things to say about him.
After his arrest, Hughes was sent to Fairfield’s Travis Air Force Base. He assured the detectives that he wasn’t working as a spy. He said he was miserable in the Air Force in 1983, so he resigned, assumed a new identity, and moved to California.
According to military court documents, Hughes was found guilty of desertion in September 2018 and sentenced to 45 days in military jail. He faced up to five years in prison, the loss of his salary, and a bad discharge. About a month later, his appeal was also denied.
Two months after Hughes’ arrest, the lady who had taken his false last name applied for an annulment in San Mateo County court. This suggests that she, too, was unaware of his genuine identity.
Perhaps Hughes’ justification was correct; dealing with NATO amid a nuclear crisis is no easy task. We can only speculate as to the complexities of his life, but it’s possible that the chance to start over in a new place, where he could greet his neighbors, exercise, and watch the Giants, seemed like his best option. Hughes’s siblings haven’t been heard from publicly since his incarceration, so it’s unknown whether they’ve reconciled with him.
Nobody knows where William Howard Hughes is at the moment.