Missing Air Force officer found 35 years later

Laurence Reese

Air Force Capt. William Howard Hughes Jr. shown in a decades-old official Air Force

Hughes was single and stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when he disappeared in July 1983, the Air Force said.

"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 US Air Force in 1983".

In retrospect, William Howard Hughes, Jr. was maybe not the kind of guy you wanted to guard your national security.

He claimed he had been depressed about being in the air force so left and created a false identity. But still, she said, the case remains under investigation.

Hughes was 33 years old and worked on classified planning and analysis of NATO's control, command and communications surveillance systems during the Cold War. His orders included working with other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) officers on the operation of Airborne Warning and Control (AWACS) electronic surveillance aircraft, officials stated.

As it turns out, it appears to be exactly what Hughes did. Also, a raid of his home in 1900 block of Chandelle Loop in Albuquerque revealed to-do lists and books he planned to read upon his return.

Finally, they obtained surveillance video that captured him withdrawing more than $28,000 from 19 different banks in the Albuquerque area on July 22.

The Air Force declared him a deserter on December 9 of that same year.

Hughes was unmarried at the time, but had three sisters.

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" 'We do not feel he disappeared voluntarily, ' his sister, Christine Hughes, said in the article".

Szulc's article came amid suspicions that the Challenger disaster and explosion of a French rocket may have been due to Soviet sabotage.

Mr Szulc also said an intelligence officer told him Capt Hughes was "worth his weight in gold to the Russians in terms of future "Star Wars".

A spokeswoman for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations told the Albuquerque Journal there's no sign Hughes leaked classified information or was involved with the Soviet Union, but that investigations are underway.

"They (AFOSI investigators) said at this point there's no indication that he had any classified information or that he gave any classified information..." "Until we have the whole story, we don't have the story".

Last year, there was uproar when Bowe Berhdahl was spared prison time after being found guilty of deserting his Afghan outpost - instead he was reduced to private in rank, dishonourably discharged and lost pay.

Hughes was taken into custody by special agents from the Travis Air Force Base and is being held at the military base.

United States deserters can face a number of charges once they are found, including prison time, being dishonourably discharged and losing pay.