Marine who rescued Aviator Howard Hughes
William Durkin, the Marine who pulled Howard Hughes from the wreckage of a plane he had been test-piloting over Beverly Hills, died Saturday. He would have turned 90 on Sunday.
On July 7, 1946, Mr. Durkin saw the fiery wreckage of Hughes' XF-11 reconnaissance plane and rescued the eccentric billionaire. Hughes was burned on 78 percent of his body and mangled from his forehead to below his knees. He hovered near death days later, but rallied to fly again.
The crash was the centerpiece of Martin Scorsese's acclaimed 2004 film The Aviator, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes.
Hi,
I have been surfing the web to print out various newspaper articles regarding my Fathers (William Durkin)death. I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to post the AP article about him. I know that the majority of interest is actually regarding Hughes - but it was very meaningful to those of us who loved my Father - as a person - to see so many postings regarding his life. He was quite a guy, and worth every inch of columb space he received in newspapers all over the world. And he loved his dogs.
So again..thank you for taking the time.
Kindst Regards - Kimberly Durkin
Posted by: Kimberly Durkin | June 15, 2006 at 03:50 AM