One of the largest and most unusual planes ever built, is getting ready for the 75th anniversary of its first—and only—flight this November. The Spruce Goose, built starting during World War II as an immense amphibious military transport was a pet project of Howard Hughes, also the only man to fly it.
The flight, at about 70 feet over Long Beach Harbor proved Hughes' point against skeptics who said it couldn't be built or flown, lasted 26 seconds, or slightly twice as long as the Wright Brothers' first flight.
But, unlike the Wrights' lightweight powered glider, the H4 Hercules, to give it its formal name (the nickname came from its wooden fuselage), has eight engines, a wingspan longer than a football field and an unloaded weight of 300,000 pounds.
Despite government interest in going further with the project, Hughes kept it in a climate-controlled fully-staffed hangar at Long Beach, in ready-to-fly condition until his death in 1975. The cost ran over $1 million a year.
Since 1993, the Spruce Goose, disassembled and reassembled in Oregon, has been the star exhibit at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, where it dwarfs all the other exhibits. In preparation for the anniversary, the museum has spiffed up the plane and updated its exhibits.
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