Aviation History – July 7, 1946. On July 7, 1946, the city of Beverly Hills will be the scene of a terrible plane crash: indeed, an aircraft will come crashing down on three houses. The latter, an XF-11 from the American aircraft manufacturer Hughes Aircraft, was then making its very first aerial outing, with pilot Howard Hughes at its controls.
The aviator, during this test flight from the Culver City airfield in the United States, lost control of the plane and ended up crashing. An accident from which he will nevertheless come out alive, but he will be seriously injured. A drama which is explained by a leak in the oil circuit, which will cause the malfunction of one of the two counter-rotating propellers of the aircraft. His attempt to land on a golf course having failed, Howard Hughes will complete his flight on houses.
As a reminder, the Hughes Aircraft XF-11 is a reconnaissance aircraft with a wingspan of 30 meters and a wing area of 91.3 square meters, powered by two blocks of 28 Pratt & Whitney cylinders, each capable of supplying 3000 horsepower.
