Spruce goose plane. "Spruce Goose": Howard Hughes' wooden ambition plane. From the flight to the museum

What do you think is the largest aircraft in the world?
Oddly enough, but such an air giant is the wooden seaplane Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" built by the eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes back in 1947, and in our opinion - "Spruce Goose"

No, of course, in terms of such parameters as takeoff weight, flight load, flight range, etc. modern heavy trucks have long left it behind, but the record wingspan still remains with the Spruce Goose.
The aircraft takes its beginnings in 1942, when large losses of the merchant fleet from submarines forced to look for an alternative way to deliver goods. One of the options was the delivery of goods by air.

Assembly of the aircraft fuselage; 1945

The idea of ​​​​delivering goods across the Atlantic was promising, with the exception of one moment - there was no aircraft capable of doing this.
And so the eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes took up the idea. The idea seemed promising to him and he undertook to implement it, concluding a contract with the naval command for this and receiving $ 13 million from him for the construction of a heavy truck, designed to lift 60 tons of cargo, or 750 marines

Final assembly in the port of Los Angeles; 1947

The design documentation was developed quickly, and at the beginning of 1943, the construction of the aircraft began. However, the further assembly of the aircraft was extremely slow. There were many factors at play, not least of which was Hughes' desire to build the perfect plane.
With the end of the war, the fleet also lost interest in the aircraft, so construction progressed at a slow pace.
However, the designer was eccentric, and was engaged not only in aircraft.

Howard Hughes at a Senate hearing, Washington; August 1947

In 1947, Washington (represented by the Senate) became interested in the fate of the money spent on the construction of the aircraft, and Howard Hughes had to finish the aircraft in a hurry to show where the money went

Senator Harry Kane, along with Howard Hughes, inspect the completed aircraft; Los Angeles; August 18, 1947;

The best evidence would be the flight of the aircraft, and it took place on November 21, 1947, the Spruce Goose was controlled by the chief designer himself - Howard Hughes

Hughes, together with the flight mechanic, take readings of control instruments before the flight; November 21st, 1947

Hughes at the helm of the Goose; November 21, 1947

Before the start

In flight

During its first and last flight, the Spruce Goose covered about 2 kilometers and climbed to a height of 21 meters. The plane did make one flight. After that, it stood in readiness for a second flight until Howard's death in 1976. Such a whim of Hughes as maintaining the aircraft in working condition cost up to 1 million dollars a year.
After the death of Howard Hughes, the plane was transferred to the Aviation Museum in Long Beach.

Jack Rial (left), senior vice president of Summa Corp. Aviation Group being interviewed by journalist Walter Cronkite inside the Goose; Long Beach 1978

Moving the "Spruce Goose" to a new exhibition hangar; 1982

What do you think is the largest aircraft in the world?
Oddly enough, but such an air giant is the wooden seaplane Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" built by the eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes back in 1947, and in our opinion - "Spruce Goose"

No, of course, in terms of such parameters as takeoff weight, flight load, flight range, etc. modern heavy trucks have long left it behind, but the record wingspan still remains with the Spruce Goose.
The aircraft takes its origins in 1942, when the heavy losses of the merchant fleet from submarines forced them to look for an alternative way to deliver goods. One of the options was the delivery of goods by air.

Assembly of the aircraft fuselage; 1945

The idea of ​​​​delivering goods across the Atlantic was promising, with the exception of one moment - there was no aircraft capable of doing this.
And so the eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes took up the idea. The idea seemed promising to him and he undertook to implement it, concluding a contract with the naval command for this and receiving $ 13 million from him for the construction of a heavy truck, designed to lift 60 tons of cargo, or 750 marines

Final assembly in the port of Los Angeles; 1947

The design documentation was developed quickly, and at the beginning of 1943, the construction of the aircraft began. However, the further assembly of the aircraft was extremely slow. There were many factors at play, not least of which was Hughes' desire to build the perfect plane.
With the end of the war, the fleet also lost interest in the aircraft, so construction progressed at a slow pace.
However, the designer was eccentric, and was engaged not only in aircraft.

Howard Hughes at a Senate hearing, Washington; August 1947

In 1947, Washington (represented by the Senate) became interested in the fate of the money spent on the construction of the aircraft, and Howard Hughes had to finish the aircraft in a hurry to show where the money went

Senator Harry Kane, along with Howard Hughes, inspect the completed aircraft; Los Angeles; August 18, 1947;

The best evidence would be the flight of the aircraft, and it took place on November 21, 1947, the Spruce Goose was controlled by the chief designer himself - Howard Hughes

Hughes, together with the flight mechanic, take readings of control instruments before the flight; November 21st, 1947

Hughes at the helm of the Goose; November 21, 1947

Before the start

In flight

During its first and last flight, the Spruce Goose covered about 2 kilometers and climbed to a height of 21 meters. The plane did make one flight. After that, it stood in readiness for a second flight until Howard's death in 1976. Such a whim of Hughes as maintaining the aircraft in working condition cost up to 1 million dollars a year.
After the death of Howard Hughes, the plane was transferred to the Aviation Museum in Long Beach.

Jack Rial (left), senior vice president of Summa Corp. Aviation Group being interviewed by journalist Walter Cronkite inside the Goose; Long Beach 1978

Well, what could be interesting in the small town of McMinville, Oregon? 32 thousand people live in it, except for winemaking, nothing is heard about other industries. Well, a UFO was seen there a couple of times ... Meanwhile, the city has something to attract tourists.
Many people know the movie The Aviator, in which an eccentric rich man who is passionate about aviation builds a huge transport aircraft called the Hercules H-4, better known as the Spruce Goose (spruce goose). The giant plane turned out, its wingspan is even larger than that of the largest aircraft of our time, the Boeing-747, A-380 and AN-225 Mriya. And yet it is built entirely of wood!

So, this plane is in the air museum in McMinnville. And in that museum there is an impressive collection of aircraft and space technology. And, no less surprisingly, there is a collection of Soviet armored vehicles, including T-34s, T-54s, infantry fighting vehicles and ISU-152s.

2. The plane is really impressive in its size. Under the wings, it freely fits many other exhibits.

3. The plane flew only once in its life, but how!

4. Here is its comparison with modern monster planes (taken from Wikipedia)

5. Eight powerful engines for those times with a capacity of 4 thousand horsepower each pushed the plane at a speed of 400 km / h

6. The plane is absolutely amazing with its size, from what angle you don’t look at it

7. As I mentioned, the H-4 is built almost entirely of wood - special pressure glued and laminated birch plywood. The reason was that there was a war going on and aluminum was considered a strategic material and was in short supply.

8. You can enter the belly of the plane, but they don’t let you go far, there is an observation deck inside, the rest is covered with plexiglass fences.

9. Looking forward to the nose of Hercules. To the right is a staircase to the upper deck.

10. Looking back - this plane could carry about 500 soldiers.

11. Internal arrangement.

12. We climbed into the cabin. The plane was not finished, and the decoration is austere. Behind us are rows of seats for passengers. Surprisingly, there were many who wanted to go on the first flight.

13. We were allowed to sit at the helm of the legendary aircraft

14. Steering wheel

15. In addition to the steering wheel, there is also a joystick, just like on modern Airbus "ah.

16. Dashboard.

17. Having seen enough of the giant, we moved on to other exhibits, since there was something to see. B-17 Flying Fortress - flying fortress.

18. Yak-50 painted in traditional Soviet Khokhloma.

19. German Me-262A-1 built in 1942. Jet Fighter!

20. Here is the famous "Messer" - Messerschmidt Bf-109G

21. Soviet MiG-21 and the tail of the MiG-17.

22. They are the same, top view

23. By the way, about the MiG-17. What, I wonder, means half a blink aboard the F-105? Wounded? It's probably Vietnam.

24. And this interesting aircraft is a three-engine passenger Ford-5-AT-B. Luggage is removed to the wing of the aircraft.

26. Business class aircraft. Interesting design interior, well, 30s.

27. A lot of interesting aircraft remained behind the scenes. We, having looked at the exhibition of weapons and Kalashnikov assault rifles, went to the space pavilion.

28. In the space division, everything begins with the devastating fiasco of the Americans in the space race. Soviet Union launched the first man into orbit "Yuri Gagarin" :)

29. Darth Vader has a lot of stuff in his cabin, maps of star galaxies and a portrait of Gagarin.

30. In general, the attitude towards Russia's contribution to cosmonautics is careful and truthful. Even the patriarch of astronautics K. Tsiolkovsky is mentioned.

31. However, politics takes its toll. "We'll bury you" - they freely translate Nikita Khrushchev's words "we'll show you Kuz'kin's mother" into English.

32. German rocket V-2. Her Korolev copied one to one in order to start moving on from her. The Americans got the designer himself - von Braun.

33. Historical artifacts - the descent vehicle of one of the Vostoks

34. Burnt rocket fairings

35. Newspaper Pravda autographed by cosmonaut Popovich.

36. But gradually, the Americans also somehow got better, and they modestly launched into space a few, no more, no less, messengers of the gods. Mercury program.

37. The descent vehicle of one of the Mercurys is stored in the mausoleum.

38. Having heard our Russian speech, one of the volunteer guides approached us and led us to the dungeon - to the Titan missile launch control bunker. He once served in one. So this is generally a combat missile,

but it was used a lot to put satellites into orbit. However, the East was also by no means a peaceful armored train on a siding.

39. We were shown a simulated rocket launch

40. It shook and rumbled very naturally, and we hurried to look out of the bunker - the Titan rocket was still in place

41. One of the engines

42. Another Titan in a horizontal position. First stage

43. Lunokhod. I don’t know if this is a replica, or the Americans took it with them when they returned from the moon.

44. Another Soviet automatic space station.

45. In fact, the apotheosis of the exhibition, as conceived by the organizers, of course, was the American landing programs on the moon and the Shuttle. The shuttle, however, is not yet available, but they are waiting for it just about.

46. ​​Take another look at the SR-71 Black Bird, an aircraft made entirely of titanium and capable of flying at four times the speed of sound.

47. On the lawn in front of the museum is a Russian MiG-29. There were also F-15s, F-17s and other planes, but the hungry family persistently pulled me away, and on this we decided to wrap up with a tour of the museum.

48. There is another attraction in the town of McMinnville. This is an Oregon hotel and a cafe on its roof.

49. In the fresh air and eats tastier!

51. Gradually comes harmony with the outside world

52. We sit, drink beer-wine-juices-water, admire the surrounding landscape

53. Hotel Oregon - generally quite unusual. Everything in it breathes antiquity.

54. Each room has its own name, paintings are hung on the walls

55. ...sometimes quite strange

57. It remains only to walk a little along the streets of the city

60. Bistro Maison

61. Continuing the automotive theme

62. I tried to limit each post to 60 photos, but it doesn’t work, a few more!

64. You scream, I scream, Ice cream

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In the initial period of the war, the Allies did not immediately realize the danger that German submarines posed. The experience of the First World War was safely forgotten, which led to simply catastrophic losses in the merchant fleet. If in 1939-1940. the number of ships sunk by the Germans did not go beyond acceptable loss rates, then in 1941-1942. Krigsmarine staged a real terror in the Atlantic. The situation was stabilized only by the end of 1942, and even then, by a global increase in the fleets of covering ships. However, the submarine threat was not eliminated. In such a situation, a completely predictable option was found - cargo can be transferred not only by water, but also by air. The main problem was only that none of the parties at that time had an aircraft with sufficient payload.

The idea of ​​​​building a "flying transport" was inspired by the American billionaire Howard Hughes. In 1942, the fleet signed a contract with him for the construction of one prototype aircraft, designated as NK-1 "Hercules" and soon received the nickname "Spruce Goose" (or "foppish Goose" - English Spruce Goose).

There is another fairly plausible legend where he came from: in 43, Hughes allegedly bet with the shipbuilder G. Kaiser for two dollars that he would build an aircraft from the most non-deficient materials that could transport as many soldiers across the Atlantic as the brainchild of Kaiser, the steamer Liberty type. The Kaiser had to fork out: Hughes did make a winged colossus with a capacity of 1000 people out of 16-mm plywood.

The dimensions of this flying boat are impressive to this day. Suffice it to say that up to 700 soldiers or about 60 tons of cargo could be freely accommodated in the H-4 fuselage. To provide the aircraft with the required power, eight high-power engines were installed in its wing.

The working documentation was developed quite quickly, which cannot be said about the pace of aircraft construction. Started in 1943, construction was fully completed in mid-1947. This was influenced by several reasons, starting from the end of the war (and, as a result, the lack of interest in further work on NK-1 by the military) and ending with various legal proceedings against Hughes. All these squabbles are colorfully described in the film "The Aviator" (2004).

The first and last flight of the aircraft, renamed by that time to H-4 (aircraft registration number - NX37602), was successfully completed on November 21, 1947. Howard Hughes personally lifted the car into the air and flew at an altitude of 21 meters on the H-4 for about 2 km along the coast near Los Angeles at a speed of about 130 km / h, using the screen effect. On this story "Hercules" actually ended. Such a large and expensive flying boat turned out to be useless.

After Hughes successfully piloted the Hercules, the US government still agreed to buy this car, which would still rot without work and in the end it would be thrown out for scrap. The Hercules was Hughes' personal toy, and he didn't want to see it broken. He used his contractual right to rent a useless flying boat, spending a million a year for the next twenty-five years to keep the Hercules in Long Beach under his control.