4. Howard Hughes survived two severe airplane crashes
Howard Hughes was a daredevil in the public mind, and an innovator within the aviation industry, who became famous for his experimental and often controversial ideas concerning airplane design and performance. In May, 1943, Hughes was practicing water landings in a Sikorsky amphibious aircraft as preparation for performing similar landings in his own H-4 Hercules, today famous as the Spruce Goose. Despite near-perfect conditions, the Sikorsky crashed heavily in Lake Mead, killing two of the passengers aboard with Hughes suffering severe injuries. The accident did not deter Howard Hughes from continuing his career as an aviator, despite his owing his life to another passenger aboard, who survived the crash.
Three years later, while flying the experimental XF-111, a prototype reconnaissance airplane, Hughes crashed again, near the Los Angeles Country Club, destroying three houses before exploding into flames. The flames spread to yet another house as Hughes managed to drag himself free of the airplane, despite suffering a crushed chest which relocated his heart to the right side, as well as numerous broken bones and severe burns. His doctors considered his physical recovery, which took several months, to have been a miracle; Hughes attributed his restoration to health to the consumption of freshly-squeezed orange juice. A long-term legacy of the accident was Hughes’ mustache, which he grew to cover an unsightly scar along his upper lip.