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Photo of the Spruce Goose from the Evergreen Aviation andamp; Space MuseumOn Nov. 2, 1947 the largest flying boat ever built, the Spruce Goose, flew for the first and only time. The Hughes H-4 Hercules was built almost entirely out of birch, designed by the eccentric aircraft designer Howard Hughes to support the war effort, but ultimately the one-of-a-kind wooden plane never saw its intended glory, flying only once and spending the rest of its days in museums. It has been 76 years since the lone flight and the Spruce Goose still represents unbridled ambition and a big dream that never fully came to fruition.
The concept
While German submarines were sinking allied ships, there was a need to transport troops and materials across the Atlantic Ocean. According to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum, the home of the Spruce Goose, Henry Kaiser conceived the idea of a large flying transport, turning to filmmaker and aviator Howard Hughes to design and build it. Hughes, a successful Hollywood movie producer and pilot, had founded the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1932, and since its founding had broken the transcontinental flight-time record in 1937 and flew around the world in just three days, 19 hours and 14 minutes in 1938, according to History. The eccentric billionaire was well known for his many ventures in Hollywood, aviation, philanthropy and business as well as for the problems that followed him throughout his interesting career, like obsessive-compulsive disorder. Hughes began the task of designing an aircraft to fulfill an important mission while facing wartime restrictions.
Kaiser and Hughes were commissioned to build the aircraft capable of carrying men and goods over long distances. While Kaiser developed the initial concept, after disputes between the two men he dropped out of the project in 1944, leaving Hughes to make the aircraft alone. Due to the ongoing war effort, there were government restrictions on materials like steel and aluminum. Hughes opted to build the aircraft out of wood laminated with plastic and covered with fabric, constructed mainly of birch and some spruce, according to History. The use of spruce, lending a light grey color to the aircraft, led to its nickname as the Spruce Goose. The first prototype, HK-1, was designed by both Kaiser and Hughes and led to the eventual build of the H-4 Hercules, a behemoth from nose to tail. The final prototype was six times larger than any aircraft at the time it was built. The development of the H-4 took an astronomical $23 million to build and took so long that the war ended by the time it was completed in 1946.
Convincing Congress
In 1947, Hughes was called to testify before a hearing of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, according to the Library of Congress. The hearings were a public spectacle, with the committee investigating the use of taxpayer money for aircraft that were never delivered, like the H-4. Hughes accused Committee Chairman Senator Owen Brewster of singling out Kaiser-Hughes Aircraft since Hughes had declined to support his Community Airline Bill and the merger of Trans World Airlines with Pan-Am. The court proceedings were later dramatized in the movie The Aviator, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes.
A Time article from Aug. 18, 1947 stated that Hughes, a "Hollywood playboy and planemaker" arrived late to court in an ill-fitting grey suit, ready for a duel against Brewster.
"Bald Owen Brewster had his own series of events to relate and he spent more than an hour detailing them as Hughes hitched at his garterless socks, drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair, cupped a hand to his deaf ear, and scowled at committee documents which the Senator offered as evidence," the Time story said.
The article outlines the battle between Brewster and Hughes in a court of law, Hughes accusing the Senator of lies and demanding equal rights. From accusations of lies and deception to ramblings about angry T.W.A hostesses and personal vendettas, the courtroom was a public scene that finally ended abruptly with a postponement, more ranting from Hughes and one Senator heading to the hospital for a bad case of poison ivy.
A single flight, a lifetime of waiting for a second opportunity
The aircraft has a nearly 320-foot wingspan, the longest and heaviest of any aircraft at the time, until it was surpassed by the Antonov An-225 Mriya in 1985. Wanting proof of its airworthiness, Congress demanded that Hughes test the plane. On Nov. 2, 1947 Hughes took the H-4 prototype out to Long Beach Harbor in California for an unannounced flight test. Onlookers came and watched as the Spruce Goose lifted out of the water and flew half a mile at an altitude of 25 feet for just under 30 seconds, with Hughes at the wheel. Despite the success of the flight, the plane never went into production. According to History, critics alleged that the wooden framework would not support the weight during long flights.
Despite a distinct lack of support for the aircraft, Hughes refused to leave the aircraft to wither into obscure aviation history. From 1947 until his death in 1976, Hughes kept the Spruce Goose in flying condition in a massive, climate-controlled hangar for $1 million per year. He retained a complete crew to maintain the plane until he died, when it was gifted to the Aero Club of Southern California and then leased out and displayed to the public for the first time in 30 years.
On July 7, 1946 Hughes was performing the first flight of the reconnaissance aircraft the XF-11 when it crashed in a Beverly Hills neighborhood, destroying three homes, exploding the fuel tanks and setting fire to the aircraft and a nearby home, seriously injuring Hughes, according to This Day in Aviation. He was criticized for not following the flight test plan by staying airborne too long and the crash was determined to be pilot error. After the near-fatal crash, he largely retreated from public life. Hughes had been known to be an interesting character, eating the same meal for dinner daily and fixating on details in movies due to his OCD. Due to the injuries sustained in the crash, Hughes suffered from chronic pain for the rest of his life and developed a habit of taking painkillers.
From the 50s on, Hughes was seen as a recluse, conducting all his business from a hotel suite and avoiding the public. According to the Pain News Network, his pain was so severe he was often unable to cut his fingernails or comb his hair. Living in constant physical pain and suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, Hughes continued working on aviation projects from the privacy of a hotel room, paying to have a team care for his greatest feat, the Spruce Goose. Hughes would sit naked in a dark screening room for months at a time, eating only chocolate bars and chicken and drinking milk, according to History Daily. He was in poor physical health and had bad hygiene, largely due to his chronic pain and addictions.Despite his mental and physical decline, Hughes continued working on his many career outlets, like film. He had enormous wealth, a slew of ideas (practical and non), ties to some of Hollywood's leading ladies and connections with notable figures of the age like Richard Nixon. By the mid-1960s, Hughes had returned to isolation.An end of an era
The aging aviator spent his final years largely in obscurity. He lived mostly out of hotels or between his residences in the U.S., Canada, Bahamas, England and Mexico. The man who had survived multiple plane crashes and dedicated millions of dollars and decades to a plane that only flew once died of kidney failure on April 5, 1976 on a flight from Acapulco to Houston at the age of 70, according to History.RELATED STORY:Rare musical composition performed under 'Spruce Goose'
Hughes died without a will, leading to numerous fake versions surfacing and a battle for his wealth. After being kept in a hangar and maintained by a private team for 33 years, the Spruce Goose was gifted to the Aero Club of Southern California. According to CNN, the transfer forestalled tax expenses and the possibility of cutting the massive plane into pieces to display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. The club leased the plane to the Wrather Corporation, which then moved the aircraft into a domed hangar next to the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California.
In 1992, the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum reached an agreement with the Aero Club for half a million dollars. The plane was disassembled and transported to Oregon. In early 1993, once water levels had receded, the plane was transported by truck to temporary hangars to begin restoration. In 2001 the re-assembly of the plane was complete and the Evergreen Aviation andamp; Space Museum opened its doors. In 2014, the plane found itself at the center of another money scandal when creditors tried to force the company into bankruptcy, according to Oregon Live, with one payment on the plane left. With a payment of an estimated $50,000 left, the Aero Club and Museum reached a settlement and the Museum would take on the title of the wooden plane. The plane celebrated the 75th anniversary of its historic flight in 2022.
The Spruce Goose was an impressive idea that has inspired many aviators that followed it. The misunderstood aviator and filmmaker who built it spent the remainder of his life prepared to fly it once more. With an impressive wingspan, even compared to the large aircraft of modern aviation, the Spruce Goose left an impressive mark on history. Through millions in funding, legal battles and decades of solitude, the Spruce Goose lived its own unique life, often paralleled to its inventor. Though Hughes died a reclusive and mentally questionable man, alone and in pain, he is remembered for his triumphs and passion for projects like his movies and aviation records. His personal triumph, the Spruce Goose, is now admired in the way Hughes did. The Spruce Goose as a testament to innovation and design and a reminder of how holding onto a dream, even for a lifetime, means never really letting go.