Howard Hughes' XF-11 crash

Hughes in the XF-11 (image from The University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries)
From Bob McCaffery's The Aviator Howard Hughes:

On July 7, 1946, Hughes had arranged a test flight demonstration and hanger party with high-ranking military, socialites and the media present with the hopes of selling this sleek aircraft to the government. Hughes test flew the XF-11 over the Los Angeles area for an hour and a half. The aircraft’s performance had exceeded his expectations, when suddenly he ran into mechanical difficulties. The governor mechanism on the right engine failed, reversing the propeller pitch. Hughes attempted every possible flight maneuver to maintain flight altitude. Hughes said; “it felt like a barn door was hanging on my right-wing". Rapidly losing altitude, Hughes tried to reach a golf course for an emergency landing. "I knew I wasn't going to make it so I propped my feet on the dash panel and went in". The crash destroyed several homes in Beverly Hills.

artist's rendering from this site
The recovered airspeed indicator had stopped at 155 mph, an impact that would kill most men. A Marine Sergeant, William Lloyd Durkin, reached Hughes in time to pull him from the burning wreckage. For his heroic effort, Durkin received a weekly paycheck until he died. Hughes was severely injured with a broken leg, multiple cracked ribs on his left side (I've read elsewhere that he broke every single rib), a dislodged heart, a fractured skull, burns and abrasions over 65% of his body. He was given a 50-50 chance to survive.

image of he crash scene from Bob McCaffery's The Aviator Howard Hughes
While Hughes was recovering in the hospital, he instructed the medical staff that he was only to be given fresh squeezed orange juice prepared while he watched. He also prepared sketches for his engineers and designed what is now the modern-day hospital bed so he could turn himself because of the burns.

Two months later, Howard Hughes successfully flew a second XF-11 to prove the design and flight worthiness of the airplane. He was truly a gutsy, fearless aviation pioneer.

The Universal Newsreel:

That horrific crash literally zapped the energy and life spirit from this truly ingenious and brilliant human being. His gradual use of medications to the ease the pain of his injuries became an addiction that fueled his need for seclusion and absolute privacy.

The XF-11 crash is, of course, the centerpiece of the brilliant Scorsese flick (another one!), The Aviator.

"Spruce Goose" newsreel

Although the actual footage is of the November 2, 1947, Hughes-piloted, one time only flight of the "Spruce Goose," this newsreel is from 1962. It seems to me it's about how the government hoped to recoup the $18 million it sunk into the project.


Wikipedia H-4 Hercules entry:

The Hughes H-4 Hercules is a one-off heavy transport aircraft designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft company, making its first and only flight in 1947. Built from wood due to wartime restrictions, it was nicknamed the "Spruce Goose" by its critics, who accused Howard Hughes of misusing government funding to build the aircraft. The Hercules is the largest flying boat ever built, and has the largest wingspan and height of any aircraft in history. It survives, in good condition, at the Evergreen Aviation Museum.

Howard Hughes in Las Vegas

from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
I'm nearly halfway through Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness, supposedly the most thorough and accurate biography of Hughes. The film The Aviator was based upon it. So far, it's a fascinating read. The place I'm at is around 1953-54 when Hughes was beginning to spend more and more time in Las Vegas. I've never understood how someone like Hughes could enjoy being in a place like Vegas. According to authors Donald Barlett and James Steele:

Las Vegas held other charms for Hughes aside from a favorable tax structure. He liked the glamor and gaudiness of the town; he enjoyed prowling the city at night, cruising the casinos and hotels in search of attractive young women available for an evening's dalliance. (p. 189)

from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Okay, now I understand it. He wasn't completely crazy. Additionally, Hughes rented a five-room bungalow adjacent to the Desert Inn called the Green House:

The Green House was Hughe's main residence for about a year in 1953-54, but eventually...he abandoned plans to make Las Vegas the capital of his empire. Even so, he wanted the Green House in a state of readiness, and he gave detailed instructions for "sealing" it against the day of his return. "He wanted everything there beautifully preserved just the way it was,when he came back," recalled Nadine Henley. A Hughes employee secured the doors and windows with tape, then painted over the tape with a sealer. (p. 189)

from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Hughes never returned to the Green House, alothough he did continue to lease and later own it until his death. Two weeks after he died, officials of the Hughes organization opened the house and found a twenty-two-year-old time capsule. In addition to chairs, tables, divans, linen, half-used bars of soap, and other standard household furnishings, the Green House contained an electric Westinghouse refrigerator--still running--two newspapers dated October 13, 1953, and April 4, 1954, keys to Room 186 at the Flamingo Hotel and Room 401 at the Hotel Miramar, twin beds with soiled sheets, some Sahara casino gambling chips, eight telephones in five rooms, a letter from "Jane to Howard" dated December 5, 1952, a script titled "Son of Sinbad," two yachting caps, a 1953 appointment dairy believed to belong to Jean Peters, a box of Christmas decorations, and a fruit cake. (pp. 189, 190)

And I'm sure the fruit cake was still edible.

The pictures are from Welcome Home Howard, part of the University of Nevada's Special Digital Collections library. Check it out for a lot of great pictures, some rare, of Howard Hughes in his prime.

A place in the sun

History of The Sands Hotel

The hotel was founded in 1952 by Jackie Freedmen of Houston, Texas, grandfather of Houston socialite Carolyn Farb.

Jackie Freedman with Kim Novak






Ocean's 11



mid-1960s

Sinatra at the Sands

"Come Fly With Me"


When billionaire Howard Hughes purchased the hotel in the mid-1960s, the 500-room tower was added.








pictures from the last day the Sands was open (June 30, 1996)


the last night

Here's a passage from Shawn Levy's excellent book Rat Pack Confidential:

"And to put a capper on it they tore down the Sands.

It's time had long passed. The tower with the wedding-cake filigree at the top came to look dainty next to the monoliths around it; the high rollers had long since removed across the Strip to Caesar's and the joint with the volcano; neither a city-within-a-city like the big new casinos nor the sort of swank, exclusive spot it once had been, it faded terribly, its orange stucco exterior more and more garish as the decades mounted." (page 317)






Frank Sinatra is reported to have said something along the lines of: "They could have at least given me a brick".

The old Sands was replaced by The Venetian.

It's very impressive, but it, perhaps symbolically, blocks out the sun instead of being "a place in".


It appears that they have a Sands Convention Center. The Sands lives on?