Spruce Goose

goose, flying Officially designated the H-4 Hercules, the massive eight-engine flying boat known as the Spruce Goose (it was actually made of birch) was intended to serve as a troop transport. Initially proposed at the high point of the Battle of the Atlantic, when German…

The Hercules, an eight-engine wooden flying boat intended to carry 750 passengers, was not finished until 1947. That year Hughes was brought before a Senate committee investigating war profiteering. In the highly publicized hearing, he sparred with Sen. Owen Brewster and ultimately prevailed. Hughes subsequently piloted (1947) the Hercules, popularly…

…1983 to 1992 the legendary Spruce Goose airplane, built by Howard Hughes, was on display in the city; the plane subsequently was moved to Portland, Oregon, and the cavernous dome that housed it was converted into a movie studio. The Aquarium of the Pacific, with more than 12,000 marine animals,…

…Duramold construction of the eight-engine Hughes flying boat. A few production aircraft also used the Duramold construction materials and methods.