Fatal crash of Howard Hughes Sikorsky S-43 in 1943 ...

[Mark Allen M]

"In the spring of 1943 Hughes spent nearly a month in Las Vegas, test flying his Sikorsky S-43 amphibian aircraft, practicing touch-and-go landings on Lake Mead in preparation for flying the H-4 Hercules. The weather conditions at the lake during the day were ideal and he enjoyed Las Vegas at night. On May 17, 1943, Hughes flew the Sikorsky from California carrying two CAA aviation inspectors, two of his employees, and actress Ava Gardner. Hughes dropped Gardner off in Las Vegas and proceeded to Lake Mead to conduct qualifying tests in the S-43. The test flight did not go well. The Sikorsky crashed into Lake Mead, killing CAA inspector Ceco Cline and Hughes employee Richard Felt. Hughes suffered a severe gash on the top of his head when he hit the upper control panel and had to be rescued by one of the others on board. Hughes paid divers $100,000 to raise the aircraft and later spent more than $500,000 restoring it."

"Hughes was using this plane, the s-43, in Nevada to practice water landing while working on the spruce goose. The govt. was going to commandeer it for war use, but Hughes crashed it in the lake shortly before they got a chance, killing two people. Howard, due to the stresses of his frantic lifestyle and perhaps the worsening of his mental illness, was on the verge of a breakdown during this period and failed to notice that the ballasts in the plane had been improperly loaded. This caused the s-43 to pitch forward, dig into the water and cartwheel on landing. The support struts for the wings crumpled and the propellers tore into the cockpit. At great expense, Howard had the plane drug up from the bottom of the lake and rebuilt. It was one of his favorite airplanes."






































Kermit Weeks, How I acquired the Howard Hughes Sikorsky S-43!
https://www.fantasyofflight.com/collect ... rsky-s-43/

[Joe Scheil]

A very interesting aircraft, and one that figured into Howard Hughes’s life several times. Big question for me is when was the twin tail mod done, and further, do any good photos of the plane exist in its twin tail state?

The S-43 was built as a world record distance aircraft NR440 and was one of two for private owners. Does anyone have a production list of the S-43, and also a history of the Hughes aircraft, as for when the configuration changes took place?

Attachments

[Pogo]

VERY interesting post, thank you Mark, and I second Joe Scheil's "big question".

This A/C was the subject of one of my first posts here on WIX, dated "Sun Mar 02, 2008 6:53 pm". See:

http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.o ... 546#188546

[Richard W.]

Super post. Thanks

Was that the official finding of the crash investigation, that Hughes was at fault for the ballast error?