The heaviest and fastest twin-engine aircraft in the world at the time, the Hughes XF-11 was poised for success. Despite placing a large order for the aircraft, the US military eventually cancelled the XF-11 contract and the world was never truly the same again…
Personally designed by Hughes Aircraft owner Howard Hughes to be a fighter, and later a reconnaissance aircraft, the aircraft (developed in secret) received national attention in 1946 when the aircraft crashed on its first flight, nearly killing Howard Hughes.
Pre-Hughes XF-11
In 1932, millionaire businessman Howard Hughes established the Hughes Aircraft Company as a subsidiary of the Hughes Tool Company (a manufacturer of drill bits founded by his father in 1909).
Having designed and built the Hughes H-1 Racer air racing aircraft in 1935 with the help of aircraft engineer Glenn Odekirk. Only one was built, but it set the world airspeed record at 352.39 mph in September that year, making it the fastest aircraft in the world at the time.
As it set the world airspeed record, both Hughes Aircraft and the H-1 became internationally famous in the aviation industry.
Hoping to capitalize on this newfound fame in 1937, Howard Hughes decided to privately fund development of a twin-engine, twin-boom interceptor aircraft that was so good that the US Army Air Corps (USAAC) couldn’t say no to it.
Designated as the Hughes D-2, the aircraft resembled the Lockheed P-38 Lightning – so much so that many P-38 mistook the D-2 for the P-38 and vice-versa, before realizing they were two distinct aircraft.
Unable to market it as an interceptor due to the superiority of the P-38 it was competing against, Hughes chose to redesign it instead of throwing the design away.
Redesigning it on several occasions to fit different roles, such as a convoy protector, convoy destroyer, pursuit aircraft, fighter and light bomber. With each new redesign, came a new designation, including D-2, DX-2, DX-2A, D-3, D-5, XA-37, and XP-73.
Eventually realizing that the D-2 would make a great reconnaissance aircraft (perhaps influenced by his personal friendship with Hughes), Colonel Elliott Roosevelt, FDR’s son, wrote a glowing recommendation of the D-2 with reconnaissance modifications to General Hap Arnold.
Likely not wanting to upset the president by going against his son, General Arnold signed a letter of intent for 100 D-2s modified extensively for reconnaissance work, which he designated as the F-11, in October 1943.
Development
Valued at $48.5 million ($761.7 million adjusted for inflation), this contract was extremely lucrative for both Hughes Aircraft and Howard Hughes himself. Not surprisingly, Howard personally led development to ensure it ran smoothly.
With the D-2 prototype having first flown on June 20 1943, the Howard Hughes-led Hughes design team knew that the basis for the Hughes F-11 (known as the XF-11 whilst in development, with “X” standing for “experimental) worked.
Needing to meet vastly different criteria in terms of speed, altitude and range, Howard Hughes redesigned large portions of the Hughes XF-11 himself.
So it could carry the powerful cameras needed to undertake reconnaissance flights, Hughes had to retrofit the D-2’s bomb bay to be a reconnaissance bay instead. To accommodate the bulky cameras of the 1940’s, the D-2’s fuselage had to be extended.
Doing this made the F-11 hard to control. To fix this, Hughes extended the F-11’s wingspan from 60Â ft 0Â in (18.29Â m) to 101Â ft 5Â in (30.9Â m), which also gave the F-11 more lift, a larger internal fuel tank, and thus a higher service ceiling.
All this gave it a much longer range too.
Now far larger and heavier than the D-2 had ever been, the D-2’s two Wasp engines didn’t provide anywhere near enough thrust. To fix that, Hughes simply acquire the much larger and more powerful Wasp Major engines instead.
Beyond increasing the F-11’s range considerably, the Wasp Major engines also increased its cruising and maximum speeds considerably, making it far faster than the USAAC’s (now the US Army Air Force) requirements.
To help make the engines more effective, Hughes employed contra-rotating propellers produced by Hamilton Propellers, which helped increase fuel-efficiency, and thus range and speed.
Operational History
Despite the war’s end in 1945, the USAAF was still interested in acquiring the Hughes XF-11. By early 1946, Hughes had a working design and by July, they had a working prototype too!
First Flight And Crash
Being both a keen flyer and having spent nearly a decade trying to enter the world of military aviation, Howard Hughes decided to pilot the XF-11’s first test flight (as he’d done for Hughes Aircraft’s other aircraft).
Taxiing out of the hangar and onto the runway of the airport at Hughes Aircraft Culver City plant on July 7 1946, Howard Hughes got ready to fly the aircraft he thought would make him a force to be reckoned with.
On the ground were a mixture of US military personnel and officers who were inspecting the aircraft on behalf od the US government, and Hughes Aircraft employees.
Tailed by a USAAF A-20 Havoc, Hughes soon took off with the A-20 not too far behind him. Performing a series of stunts and maneuvers, Hughes hoped to impress the US military personnel into ordering the aircraft on the spot.
Using the XF-11’s superior speed, Hughes soon lost the A-20 chase plane. However, an hour into the flight, a fuel leak caused the propellers on the right-hand side to become less effective before reversing pitch, disrupting the engine’s thrust.
Despite communicating the issue to his team, who informed him to follow pre-established safety protocols for the aircraft, Hughes instead performed some improvised troubleshooting that saw him raising and lowering the gear.
Too focused on that, Hughes drifted away from the airport. Constantly loosing altitude and with nowhere to land, Hughes hoped to land the XF-11 on the relatively flat golf course at the Los Angeles Country Club, where he’d played several times.
Making his approach, the right wing struck a pole and crashed into three houses, with a fire eventually destroying the end house completely. With the aircraft engulfed in flames, a semi-conscious Hughes tried his best to escape the burning aircraft.
Having watched the whole ordeal, Marine Corps Master Sergeant William Durbin (who was on leave and just happened to be in the are) investigated the crash site. Thinking the aircraft was a P-38, he soon realized the pilot was still alive.
Ripping the cockpit open with sheer strength, he pulled the pilot (unaware it was millionaire businessman Howard Hughes) out to safety, before Hughes was rushed to hospital.
Eventually discovering he’d saved Howard Hughes, Durbin received $200 a month from Hughes for the rest of his life, although some do dispute this fact.
Redesign And Second Flight
With the first prototype completely destroyed, and Hughes laid in the hospital with only a 50-50 chance of survival, Hughes Aircraft was in disarray. Coming to, Hughes ordered a redesign of the XF-11.
Redesigning the areas of the XF-11 that had caused the crash, as well as replacing the contra-rotating propellers with conventional ones, the second prototype was finished by early-to-mid 1947.
Wanting to prove to the US military that his aircraft worked, and that the first flight and subsequent crash was just a minor error, Hughes contacted the US military to set up another flight.
Here, the US military informed Hughes that they didn’t want him to fly the aircraft due to the crash he’d been in (despite having recovered from his injuries).
Even in spite of objections by certain high-ranking USAAF officials, appeals made by Generals Ira Eaker and Carl Spaatz soon convinced the higher-ups to allow Hughes to fly, on the condition he posted $5 million in security.
Posting the money, Hughes took to the skies again on April 5 1947. Whilst mostly uneventful (at least, compared to last time) the XF-11 proved to be stable and controllable at high speeds, yet the aircraft lacked stability at low-speeds and altitudes.
Evaluation against the Republic XF-12 Rainbow – an aircraft designed by Republic for the same contract as the XF-11 – revealed that the XF-11 was more expensive to acquire and operate, as well as harder to fly and maintain.
To that end, an order for 98 XF-12s was placed by the USAAF, before eventually cancelling that contract in favor of the RB-50 Superfortress and Northrop F-15 Reporter, based on the B-50 and P-61 respectively.
USAF Use
Despite the USAAF not wanting the XF-11, when the USAF was established as a separate service in September 1947, they continued to perform test flight with the sole XF-11 prototype in the hopes of one day using it as a reconnaissance aircraft.
Redesignated by them as the XR-11 to reflect that it was an experimental reconnaissance aircraft, the USAF had it shipped from Culver City, California to Eglin Field, Florida before moving it to Wright Field, Ohio in December 1948.
Performing a number of test flights, the USAF soon placed an order for 98 Hughes XF-11s from Hughes Aircraft, before eventually cancelling the contract in July 1949.
When they signed the contract, ordering 98 XF-11s, the USAF also purchased the sole prototype too. Despite cancelling the contract, the USAF still owned the XF-11 prototype.
Not wanting to see a perfectly good aircraft go to waste, the USAF had it flown from Wright Field, Ohio, to Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, on July 26 1947, where it was used by the 3750th Technical Training Wing as a ground maintenance trainer.
Eventually dropped from the USAF inventory in November later that year, the sole XF-11 prototype (which would’ve made a great museum display at somewhere like the Smithsonian or the Evergreen Aviation Museum), was scrapped.
Role in Senate Investigations
Over the course of the war, US military spending increased monumentally, accounting for 40% of the US GDP in 1945 alone. Whilst this money was spread around more than you’d realize, a lot of it went to funding development of new aircraft.
Beyond receiving millions of dollars in funding for the D-2/XF-11, Hughes Aircraft also received millions of dollars for the development of the H-4 Hercules.
Despite receiving a combined $40 million from the federal government, a combination of technical and managerial issues pushed back development of both aircraft, with neither one ever entering mass production.
Believing that Howard Hughes had deliberately caused managerial issues (which in turn, led to the technical ones) to defraud the federal government, Senator Owen Brewster (R-ME) began investigating Howard Hughes’s conduct during the war in 1946.
Whilst the most famous parts of the investigation hinged on the Hercules – nicknamed the “Spruce Goose” by Brewster to anger Hughes – as a prototype hadn’t flown during the war (it wouldn’t fly until 1947), a large part of the investigation hinged on the XF-11.
Although Senator Brewster investigated almost every aspect of the XF-11 (on national TV too), he focused on two main issues with the XF-11.
He argued that when compared to the other aircraft it was competing against, the XF-11’s design was needlessly complicated. He then brought up the XF-11’s crash, partly due to Hughes’ pilot error, but also do to poor engineering, both of which he blamed Hughes for.
In the end, Brewster argued that Hughes never designed the XF-11 to enter mass production, but was rather designed it to enhance his own already large fortune.
Despite Brewster’s best efforts, Hughes fought back just as hard. Crucified in the court of public opinion due to his overly chummy friendship with Pan Am owner, Juan Trippe, who competed against Hughes’ TWA, Hughes was cleared of all wrongdoing.
Role in The Aviator
As neither the original, nor the second XF-11 had survived to the modern day, when it came to filming scenes involving the XF-11 for Martin Scorsese’s 2004 biopic of Howard Hughes, The Aviator, a replica had to be used.
Contacting California-based company, Aero Telemetry, who specialize in producing scaled-down replica aircraft, Scorsese asked them to design a roughly 1/4 scale model of the aircraft for the movie (alongside other aircraft like the H-1 and H-4).
Only having limited schematics for the aircraft (the rest have simply been lost to time and/or are in the store rooms of various companies once owned by Hughes Aircraft), Aero Telemetry relied heavily off technical drawings to create a historically accurate aircraft.
Forced to redesign large portions of the aircraft so it could be flown via remote control as well as stay in line with new aviation regulations, the aircraft was completed in time for filming.
Flown via remote control by Aero Telemetry staff during filming, this is the actual aircraft you see flying in the movie, with the scenes of Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio) being filmed in a cockpit mockup also built by Aero Telemetry.
Today, despite only being a replica, it is the only surviving model of the Hughes XF-11, with it currently on display at Aero Telemetry’s California HQ.
Specifications
Although only two prototypes were built, the aircraft’s specs were highly publicized, especially so after the first flight and crash and later during the Brewster Committee.
Had the Hughes XF-11 entered service as the F-11, it’s specs would’ve likely looked something like this…
| Specifications | Hughes XF-11 |
|---|---|
| Length | 65Â ft 3Â in (19.9Â m) |
| Wingspan | 101Â ft 5Â in (30.9Â m) |
| Height | 23 ft 2 in (7.06 m) |
| Crew | 2 (one pilot, one navigator/photographer) |
| Maximum Speed | 450Â mph (390Â kn; 720Â km/h) |
| Range | 5,000Â mi (4,300Â nmi; 8,000Â km) |
| Service Ceiling | 42,000Â ft (13,000Â m) |
| MTOW | 58,315Â lb (26,451Â kg)Â |
Why Was the Hughes XF-11 Cancelled?
In 1948, the USAAF (now the USAF following its reorganization in 1947) cancelled its contract for the Republic X-12 Rainbow.
Despite Hughes Aircraft now having the belief that it was only a matter of time until the XF-11 entered service as the F-11, the USAF had different plans. In July 1949, they cancelled their contract for 98 F-11s plus the two already built.
So why was it cancelled?
First of all, there was an issue of money. In the postwar years, military spending reduced considerably, with the military being reduced to a fraction of its wartime size. Among the first things to be axed were aircraft.
And I’m not just talking about thousands of fighter jets, bombers and cargo aircraft that saw action during the war (indeed, many cargo aircraft were borrowed from airlines and needed to be returned).
This also included aircraft in development like the XF-11 too.
Beyond a lack of funding, there was also cost to consider. For USAF, it was actually cheaper for them to pay firms like Lockheed and Northrop to develop a new variant of a pre-existing aircraft for reconnaissance duties, such as the P-38 or P-61.
Not only were they cheaper to acquire per aircraft than the XF-11, but they would also be easier to maintain as the USAF already had mechanics trained to maintain them, and pilots trained to fly them.
Then there were also technical specs to consider. Although one of the most advanced aircraft of its time with unrivalled top speeds, when it came to low-altitude, low-speed flying, the XF-11 simply couldn’t do it.
How Could The Hughes XF-11 Have Changed History?
As an aircraft itself, the XF-11 wasn’t really anything special – at least, not in the same way that other WWII aircraft like the Spitfire and P-51 were. Instead, the XF-11 was significant for what happened afterwards…
Having produced three aircraft (the H-1 Racer, H-4 Hercules and the XF-11), none of which were successful, Howard Hughes refused to produce any more fixed-wing aircraft, thus beginning Hughes Aircraft’s foray into producing helicopters and satellites.
Yet, had the XF-11 been successful, Hughes Aircraft would’ve probably never stopped producing fixed-wing aircraft, or at least, not without producing many more aircraft.
Indeed, during the war, Hughes Aircraft Company was one of the largest companies in the US by the size of its government contracts, with it being uniquely positioned to begin producing commercial aircraft after the war, thanks to Hughes’ ownership of TWA.
As the owner of one of the “Big Four” airlines, in the form of TWA, as well as Hughes Airwest (beginning in 1970), it’s highly likely that when it came to replacing TWA’s Lockheed Constellations, Howard Hughes would’ve asked his engineers at Hughes Aircraft to look into it.
Whilst there’s no guarantee Hughes Aircraft would’ve ever done it, in an alternate universe where the XF-11 was never cancelled, Hughes Aircraft could’ve gone on to build an early jet airliner (to replace the Constellations) that rivaled the DC-8, 707 and Convair 880!
Had this Hughes jet airliner been successful, Hughes would likely have continued to produce other airliners. Perhaps a contender to the 747 and DC-10, perhaps a contender to the 737 and DC-9, perhaps both.
Or maybe Hughes Aircraft would’ve done something completely unfathomable and produced an airliner unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, just as Boeing did by introducing the 747-100 in 1970.
Undoubtedly, had the XF-11 been successful, Hughes would’ve continued producing military aircraft too. Needless to say, the possibilities are endless…
Legacy
Despite having never entered mass-production as it was intended to, the Hughes XF-11 left one of the largest impacts of any unproduced aircraft I’ve ever seen!
Howard Hughes
When Howard Hughes crashed the original XF-11 prototype into a house, he frantically tried to escape the burning aircraft. Pulled out by a Marine Corps Master Sergeant on leave, Hughes was rushed to hospital.
Given only a 50-50 chance of survival by California’s best doctors, Hughes survived and eventually made a full recovery. Well… by “full”, we mean about as full as you can get.
Although Hughes recovered from the physical effects of the crash, such as the numerous third-degree burns that covered his body, the collapsed left lung, the crushed collarbone and the multiple cracked ribs, he never fully recovered mentally…
Suffering from OCD and germaphobia his entire life, these conditions were only worsened after the crash. Following the crash, Hughes also became incredibly secretive, with the crash likely also causing allodynia which lasted until Hughes’ death in 1976.
Despite already being famous before thanks to his playboy lifestyle, and from producing movie hits like Hell’s Angels (1930) and Scarface (1932), the controversy generated from the failure of the XF-11 and the Brewster Committee made Howard Hughes the most famous man in America!
Hughes Aircraft
Beyond being the straw that broke the camel’s back so to speak, the crash of the XF-11 and the media attention that surrounded it in the ensuing weeks, ensured that Hughes Aircraft became a household name in the 1940’s.
Following the war, the highly publicized Brewster Committee which investigated the XF-11 and H-4 Hercules, once again reinforced Hughes Aircraft as a household name, in a similar vein to how Boeing or Airbus are known today.
Once Hughes was cleared of all wrongdoing, Hughes Aircraft had become even more famous! It was arguably this fame, brought on by the XF-11 both directly and indirectly, that allowed Hughes Aircraft to begin selling satellites and missiles after the war.
They weren’t just another aircraft manufacturer, they were Hughes, owned by Howard Hughes – everyone knew who they were!
Although they sold helicopters under the name Hughes Helicopters (eventually rolled into Hughes Tool Company), the now-famous Hughes name is arguably what helped them sell thousands of helicopters in the 1950’s, 1960’s and beyond.
What do you think could’ve happened if the Hughes XF-11 had entered service? Would it have been successful or not? Tell me in the comments!