In 1943 Howard Hughes began an ambitious design for a high-altitude recon plane based on his D-2 fighter design but of aluminium construction. It was a heavy twin-boom type with 2x Pratt & Whitney 3000 hp engines with 8 blade Contra-Props. The plane was to be unarmed and loaded with fuel in the booms for a 5000 mile range at 44,000 ft, speed 450 mph with room for up to 5 cameras in the nose section! But due to delays and the war ending in 1945, the XF-11 didn't fly until the summer of 1946 with Hughes at the controls. One of the engines went into reverse pitch and Hughes lost control, crashing into a two-story home and demolishing it. He was pulled from the wreckage by passerby Marine Sgt. William Durkin and was hospitalized. Meanwhile a second XF-11 was built with conventional props and flew in April 1947. It was a good performer but with the age of jets arriving since WW2 and no invasion of Japan, the original order for 98 was cancelled and the last prototype scrapped. Hughes was disappointed and also believed that Lockheed stole his twin-boom concept to build the XP-38 Lightning!!!

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