Robert P. McCulloch

In 1963, on the courthouse steps of Kingman, McCulloch purchased a 26-square-mile (67 km2) parcel of barren desert that would become the site for Lake Havasu City.

[3] Other communities developed by McCulloch Oil include Fountain Hills, Arizona, Pueblo West, Colorado, and Spring Creek, Nevada.

This became a significant enterprise, with the property company acquiring over a half-dozen commercial aircraft and flying in prospective buyers from all over the United States.

He then added on US$60,000, a thousand dollars for each year of his age at the time he estimated the bridge would be raised in Arizona.

The granite pieces were stacked at the Surrey Commercial Docks, and then were shipped through the Panama Canal to Long Beach, California.

The attraction was opened on October 10, 1971, with elaborate fanfare: Fireworks, a parade, entertainment, and celebrities, such as Bonanza actor Lorne Greene and dignitaries such as the Lord Mayor of London.

[3] With the purchase of the bridge, McCulloch accelerated his development campaign, increasing the number of flights into the city.

[3] A popular urban legend is that McCulloch mistakenly believed that he was buying the more impressive Tower Bridge.

Notable cars such as the 1954–1955 Kaiser Manhattan and the 1957 Studebaker Golden Hawk and Ford Thunderbird F-Type had a McCulloch/Paxton Supercharger.

McCulloch built his first aircraft in 1971 (the same year the London Bridge officially opened), in Lake Havasu City.

It was the McCulloch J-2 Gyroplane, a hybrid helicopter and airplane combination, and was tested in the summer of 1973 by James Patton, a NASA pilot.

McCulloch's dream was to offer "an airplane in every garage", promoting a seemingly simple aircraft that was easy to fly and could take off from a driveway.