On 2007-09-20 09:19:34 -0700, javawizard said:

In 1946 a test pilot lost control of his plywood airplane over Beverly
Hills, California and plowed into a neighborhood, damaging a few
houses. The test pilot was Howard Hughes. - from www.odd-info.com

It severely damaged Howard Hughes. He nearly died from burns on his lungs.

As others have noted, it was not plywood. It was made of aluminum. The
XF-11 was patterned after an earlier plywood plane, the D-2, that
Howard Hughes had built, which may be the source of confusion. However,
the D-2 was destroyed by fire before the XF-11 was even built.

--
Waddling Eagle
World Famous Flight Instructor