The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-07-12
Houard Hughes, Near Death, Tries to Tell Army Cause ofCrash

Beverly Hills, Calf, July 12- tUP)-Howard Hughes, millionaire plane designer, clung to his battered old felt hat as a good luck piece today after his physician told him he might not live.
 Hughes listened calmly while his physician told him he might not re- cover. Then he began to fret about the future of the plane in which he crashed Sunday.
 He asked permission to dictate a message to the Army explaining the cause of the crash so this won't happen to somebody elSe.'
 Blames Bad Propeller
 His voice coming slowly and pain fully from his oxygen mask. the handsome, 40-year-old sportsman blamed the accident on faulty propeller
 I am absolutely certain that's what caused the crash" he said. It felt as if some giant had sud- denly grasped the right wing of the plane and was pushing it back and down"
 Hughes, whose super-speedy photo reconnaissance plane crashed during a test flight for the Army, had amazed hospital officials with his bullheaded refusal to give in to his countless injuries
 But last night his stubborn re- slstance faltered. Calling his phys ician, Dr. Verne Mason. he asked point blank:
 Am I going to lve?n
 T don't know" Mason replied.
 Delivers Bulletin
 Then Hughes asked Mason to de- liver message to the Army.
 In bedside bulletin, the physi- clan explained that Hughes left lung, crushed when his plane ploWed into Bel Air mansion, had failed to respond.
 Ut is still functionless,' Mason said. He IS surviving through the re- stricted use of his right lung, to the extent permitted by his crushed | chest, which includes nine broken ribs
 He is breathing pure oxygen 24 hours day"
 In addition to the collapsed lung, Hughes injuries included a broken left shoulder, a smashed nose and countless bruises and burns.
 Asked for Battered Hat
 The famous f1iers sudden and un- explained turn for the worse fol- lowed his request for his good-luck charm-the battered old felt hat he was wearing when his ship crashed |
 Patrolman E. R. Davis craWled over the blackened Wreckage until he found the hat damned in the bottom of the wrecked cockpit dirty and Watersoaked It was rushed to Hughes bedside.
 Told that he was near death, the young aircraft executive pro- ducer dictated 10-minute bulletin, outlining the cause of the crash ot his XF-H. newest and fastest photo plane he had designed for the Army
 The four blades Of the right pro pellof teach of the two engines drives eight -bladed propellors-the rear set going in the opposite di- rectlon from the frontt suddenly 144t4-7No 4illO 4tFGtSt 1IGGIi DOSIIiOli. The front four blades remained in normal forward flight position he said
 Hughes. struggling to get his words out, said the change had oc- cured in mid-flight and without warning.
 He said the engine continued to run normally and to produce it's full horsepower, but the four front blades were trying to pull the air plane ahead while the rear four blades were trying equally hard to push it backward ?. The airplane suddenly felt as il someone had tied a barn door oroadside onto the right wing" he said.
 I unfastened my seat belt. got up and looked quickly out all the windows of the cabin. I wanted to see if any large part of the airplane. such as a section of the wing. tail