As Britain and the Allies struggled for survival in a
fierce battle with the Nazis, American industrial night was mobilized
to supply them with the weapons and machines to beat
back the German onslaught. Millionaire Howard Hughes was anxious to
participate in the war effort to do his part to
defeat Hitler. His intentions were not completely altruistic.
A military contract would also have been extremely profitable. Hughes
built the prototype D-2 a speedy wooden fighter slash bomber
entirely with his own money and in secret. He hoped
to amaze the US Army Air Force with it, but
the plane was flatly rejected. Fortunately for Hughes, he had
friends in high places when President Roosevelt declared war on
December 8th, 1941.
He had not only to consider the fate of the
free world and the lives of millions of American soldiers.
He also had to weigh the risks to his own
sons. Elliot Roosevelt was a member of the US Army
Air Force. He had received his captain's Commission on his
30th birthday in 1940. At the time, Roosevelt was battling
for a third term in office, and there were cries
of nepotism. But General Henry Hap Arnold, chief of the
Air Corps, silenced those rumors.
Elliott Roosevelt's poor eyesight left him classified as 4F or
Unfit to Fly, but he still managed to carve out
a respectable career, participating in 89 combat missions. Reconnaissance was
his specialty, and he was considered the leading expert in
Recon in the European theater and a pioneer in aerial
night photography.
While commanding the third reconnaissance group in Operation Torch, the
invasion of North Africa, Roosevelt had a chance to fly
on board a speedy De Havilland Mosquito. He was so
impressed with De Havilland's wooden wonder, he became a passionate
advocate of British aircraft and believed American made B-17s and
P38s were sitting ducks against the German defenses.
His enthusiasm may have blinded him when a sly Howard
Hughes presented him with a prototype for his own wooden
aircraft, the D-2. The D-2 was a twin boom fighter,
just like the Vultee Swoose Goose, designed by Hughes former
employee Richard Palmer. Palmer left Hughes for Vultee because he
was tired of the company's lack of focus. The D-2
also had a remarkable resemblance to the P-38 Lightning.
They were so similar Hughes did not believe it was
a coincidence, and he testified to the Senate that Lockheed
had stolen his design. Though the D-2 had been rejected
by the US Army Air Force. When Colonel Elliott Roosevelt
came to town looking for a new reconnaissance plane, Hughes
dazzled him Hollywood style, to salvage a contract. The P-38
Lightning had been the workhorse reconnaissance plane for the US
Army Air Force.
But by 1943, they were looking for an upgrade. Colonel
Roosevelt, an expert in Recon, was asked to explore what
aircraft were in the works that might take over for
the P-38. Hughes spared no expense. When Roosevelt came to
see his plant in Culver City, California. A line of
limousines greeted the president's son and his staff at the
airport, and they were taken on the trip of their
lives. Women and starlets were thrown at them.
They were treated to Hollywood's most extravagant parties. In the
hottest nightclubs, a married Roosevelt was introduced to his next
wife, Faye Emerson, and up and coming actress with whom
he would have a scandalous affair. In the midst of
all this partying, there was time to see the D-2.
It's Dura mold body. A type of plywood bonded with
plastic and molded under heat and pressure would certainly have
impressed Roosevelt, who was enamored with a mosquito. By the
time Colonel Roosevelt left California, he was sold on the
D-2. He became an enthusiastic salesman for Hughes when he
briefed General Arnold and his father on the project. Arnold
was in a difficult position as Material Command had already
rejected the aircraft.
They did not believe Hughes had the facilities or track
record to deliver on an order. In the end, Arnold
had no choice but to listen to the president's son.
He ordered the XF-11, an all metal and larger reconnaissance
version of the D-2. The decision caused an uproar in
the Army Air Force, not only because the D-2 had
been rejected, but also because they already had a similar
plane in development, the Lockheed chain Lightning.
The XP-58 was a long range heavy fighter which could
outperform the D-2 and it came from a known and
reliable aircraft and manufacturer, the P-38 Lightning, built by Lockheed.
Uproar or not, Elliott had his father's ear. Hughes won
a $43 million dollar contract to build 100 XF- 11s,
a contract that would be worth half a billion dollars
today.
Unfortunately for the Army Air Force, their worst fears about
Hughes came to be Work progressed slowly on the XF-11.
Each of its Pratt and Whitney 28 cylinder radial engines
drove a pair of Contra rotating 4 bladed controllable pitch
propellers. It was hoped this style of prop would increase
performance and stability, but the whole system was too complex
and ultimately scrapped.
As years passed, the XF-11 project forced on the US
Army Air Force became increasingly unpopular. The original D-2 prototype
was mysteriously destroyed in a fire in November of 1944.
At the time, Hughes and the US Army Air Force
were fighting over who should pay for the original development
costs. With the prototype a Pile of Ash, the two
sides agreed to split the cost.
It was an accident which was highly convenient for the
millionaire. Like the XF-11 controversy followed Colonel Roosevelt as the
war progressed, Project Aphrodite was a joint mission between the
US Navy and U.S. Army Air Force to destroy heavily
fortified German submarine pens and V2 sites with bomber drones.
The pilot and copilot would take aircraft heavily loaded with
explosives to altitude before parachuting to safety. A mother ship
remotely controlled the bombers the rest of the way via
radio. In later years, Elliott Roosevelt claimed to be in
the Mosquito chase plane that recorded the tragic death of
Lieutenant Joe Kennedy Junior, brother of future President John F
Kennedy.
His plane inexplicably detonated before it reached its target. Elliott
asserted that he actually flew through the deadly fireball that
ensued, but there is no record of the president's son
participating in the mission. There was also some controversy when
Roosevelt was finally awarded his wings. General Arnold, who had
been forced to accept Hughes XF-11, also had his arm
twisted to intervene in Colonel Roosevelt's final promotion.
In January of 1945, Arnold ordered General Carl Spaatz to
appoint Elliott, whose poor vision had left him classified as
4F, or Unfit to Fly, as a rated pilot. The
President then submitted his son's name to the Senate for
promotion to Brigadier General. On April 12th, 1945, America mourned
the death of President Roosevelt.
He had accomplished much during his tenure, guiding them out
of the Depression and through the war. As tragic as
his passing was, it did untie the hands of General
Arnold. He was finally able to put millionaire Howard Hughes
in his place. The XF-11 order was canceled a month
after the president's death on May 11th, 1945, though Hughes
was allowed to continue to work on the prototypes.
By the time the war ended, Hughes still had little
to show. For all the money spent on the XF-11,
it would be another year before a prototype would fly,
and the first flight ended in a crash that nearly
killed him. The XF-11 was not Hughes's only multimillion dollar
scandal. His behemoth transport, the H4 Spruce Goose, was more
of a lame duck and was yet to fly.
With millions of dollars poured into both projects, questions swirled
in the Senate about what Hughes was doing with the
money. In 1947, the Brewster Committee looked into the spending
irregularities surrounding these projects.
I put the sweat of my life into this thing.
I have my reputation rolled up in it, and I
have stated several times that if it's a failure, I'll
probably leave this country and never come back. And I
mean it.
Elliott Roosevelt and Johnny Myers were also called as witnesses.
Myers, a publicist who worked for Hughes, gave a detailed
expense report of all the perks Roosevelt had received during
his time in California.
Now can you tell me why you were charging up
to aircraft production? $132 for nylon hose for Miss Emerson?
Because she'd been very charming.
Just like the press that's up higher, the girls were
very pleasant.
What has that got to do with aircraft production?
They just went along. Every company in the business did
it. We're no different.
Well, but is it, you say? Because she'd been very
charming. That's the reason that you charged up $132?
That's right.
For the which would go into the production of airplane
and now will you tell us?
Why You gave her $20 and charged it up to
the company to go home if she was very charming.
(laughing)
You topped me.
Myers had even paid for Roosevelt's wedding to Faye Emerson.
In his defense, Roosevelt claimed that he first heard about
the XF-11 after the Culver City visit in a briefing
from Arnold.
And there are efforts to find out whether.
there was any connection that I might have had with
the chief executive, which might have had an effect on
any war contracts, and I'm here to give you the
complete facts. It is undoubtedly true that he bought some
tickets to from New York to Washington, but I still
want you to put the question to him.
was he completely positive the one of those tickets was
for Elliott Roosevelt?
Well, I'll put it right to him. Now, Mr. Mars,
what do you say? Look at that sheet you you
told us about them being lost and buying the fairs
back. Now what do you say about it?
Just what it says here. It says Colonel Elliott Roosevelt's
party. So I didn't testify that he was one of
them. He could have, could have been one of the
other fellas. Did I say that on the word Elliott
Roosevelt party?
During a break in hearings, Hughes decided to give the
Senate all the evidence they needed that the Spruce Goose
was fit to fly. While taxi testing the aircraft, he
took the H-4 on its first and only flight. In
daredevil fashion, Hughes proved to the cameras and reporters that
the millions of American tax dollars had not been squandered
or misappropriated. The millionaire used his Hollywood dazzle.
To save his own skin.