The high-altitude spy plane that nearly bankrupted a Hollywood icon

Wars & Conflicts · Published 16 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Howard Hughes wanted to build the ultimate long-range reconnaissance aircraft, but his ambition collided with military bureaucracy and industrial chaos. The resulting Hughes XF-11 was a technological marvel that never saw combat, a victim of its own complexity and the shifting tides of World War II.

In 1943, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) sought a dedicated high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft capable of reaching strategic targets in the Pacific. While the Boeing B-29 was an option, many leaders preferred a purpose-built plane. Hughes Aircraft entered the fray with the XF-11, a heavily modified version of his private D-2 aircraft. The project was fraught with tension from the start; the USAAF Air Materiel Command (AMC) distrusted Hughes' industrial capacity and objected to the original aircraft's wooden construction, demanding an all-metal design. The project's survival was secured through a mix of high-level lobbying and personal influence. Hughes enlisted Secretary of Commerce Jesse Holman Jones to meet with President Roosevelt. Later, a public relations agent hosted Colonel Elliott Roosevelt—the president's son—on lavish tours of Hollywood studios and Manhattan nightclubs. These efforts successfully swayed General Henry "Hap" Arnold into ordering 100 F-11s in 1943, despite the AMC's strenuous objections. However, the contract was plagued by delays. By 1944, Hughes was suffering from mental strain, leading him to hire Charles Perrell to manage the program. Perrell faced internal sabotage from engineers and executives, resulting in a mass resignation of 21 staff members in May 1944. The XF-11 was a twin-engine monoplane featuring a pressurized crew nacelle and a nose capable of housing multiple Fairchild cameras. It was powered by Pratt & Whitney R-4360-31 engines, but the first prototype suffered from unreliable contra-rotating propellers that would inexplicably reverse pitch. The program was ultimately rendered obsolete by the end of World War II. The order for 100 aircraft was slashed to just three prototypes. The first prototype was destroyed in a 1946 crash in Beverly Hills, which critically injured Hughes, while the second was scrapped in 1949.

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