It’s been 75 years since the Spruce Goose had its maiden and only flight. The Spruce Goose Hercules is the largest flying boat ever built, and it had the largest wingspan of any aircraft that had ever flown until the Scaled Composites Stratolaunch first flew on April 13, 2019. The plane is currently on display at the Evergreen Aviation And Space Museum. Visiting the museum and the plane is an awe inspiring site, and we can’t even start telling the story without saying that for a more complete story and to see the real thing, go visit the Evergreen Aviation And Space Museum.

There is a lot to write on the topic, so there will be 3 articles in this series. The first will discuss the history of the Spruce Goose prior to its taxi tests and flights, the second article will discuss the taxi tests and flight, and the third article will discuss the post-flight history of the Spruce Goose.

Development

As a result of the German U-boats sinking a lot of war material sent by the sea from the US to Britain, the US Government needed a way to transport precious war materials and personnel to Britain. To get these war materials to Britain, the US decided a requirement for an aircraft that can cross the Atlantic Ocean with a large payload, and the wartime priorities on materials, meant that the desired aircraft could not be made of strategic materials, such as aluminum and steel.

To meet this need, a leading Liberty ship builder and manufacturer, Henry J. Kaiser came up with the project and teamed up up famous aircraft designer Howard Hughes. This project became the largest aircraft aircraft that had been built up to that point, and be designated HK-1 to reflect the collaboration between Hughes and Kaiser. The plane would be designed to carry 150,000 pounds which is the equivalent of, 750 fully equipped troops or two 30-ton M4 Sherman tanks.

As the Spruce Goose was not finished by the end of the war in late 1946, the situation was that either funding would have to continue from another source to complete building or the plane would have to be scrapped. With the war over and having already funded X million in funding, and with future of aviation being in jet airliners that would have range to allow for the Spruce Goose to serve the same purpose of the Spruce Goose was designed for, the US Government decided it wasn’t worth funding the plane to completion. Determined to have the Spruce Goose completed, Howard Hughes put in $18 million of his own money to finish the development of the Spruce Goose. Using the conversion rate of 1 dollar in 1947 being worth the equivalent of $12.12 in 2021, this would mean that Howard Hughes put in the equivalent of $218,160,000 in 2021 dollars to finish construction of the Spruce Goose.

Unique Features

There are many unique features on the Spruce Goose that would later be added into many planes. This included the widespread use of hydrolics to control the different control surfaces of the plane and the use of a nose cone to load cargo. In order to load the cargo into the Spruce Goose, the nose cone would have opened up, so the cargo would have entered from the front. This is the same way that modern planes such as the Boeing 747 Cargo version and the currently do their loading.

The other feature of Spruce Goose is the use of hydraulics. The Spruce Goose is great example and one of the early examples of the use of hydraulics to control the entire plane surfaces.

When taking a tour, one will notice a ladder, which is unavoidable to miss, the middle if the upper deck near the wings. This ladder has quite a unique purpose, being that the Goose is a flying boat, there is the need to

Make sure to check in next week for the next chapter in the story, the flight and features of the Spruce Goose. Please feel free to provide a comment. to let us know how we’re doing or if you have suggestions for future topics or questions. Plus, make sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date on future stories such as this.