When was the spruce goose finished

Howard Hughes always thought big, but he did not actually think up the Spruce Goose. The aircraft originated in the mind of Henry J. Kaiser, owner of an Oakland-based ship manufacturing company. In the first nine months of U. By the end of , the American public was deeply concerned about the depletion of U.

Learn more about the history, first flight, and legacy of this mammoth plane. The largest wooden airplane ever constructed, and flown only one time, the Spruce Goose represents one of humanity's greatest attempts to conquer the skies.

It was born out of a need to move troops and material across the Atlantic Ocean, where in , German submarines were sinking hundreds of Allied ships. Henry Kaiser, steel magnate and shipbuilder, conceived the idea of a massive flying transport and turned to Howard Hughes to design and build it. Six times larger than any aircraft of its time, the Spruce Goose, also known as the Hughes Flying Boat, is made entirely of wood. Originally designated HK-1 for the first aircraft built by Hughes-Kaiser, the giant was re-designated the H-4 Hercules when Henry Kaiser withdrew from the project in The winged giant made only one flight on November 2, The unannounced decision to fly was made by Hughes during a taxi test.

With Hughes at the controls, David Grant as co-pilot, and several engineers, crewmen and journalists on board, the Spruce Goose flew just over one mile at an altitude of 70 feet for one minute. A team from Hughes Aircraft Company would design the craft and build one prototype and two additional planes.

Once design work had begun, Hughes employees voted to name it the H-4 Hercules. Kaiser dropped out of the project, and Hughes was forced by various government bodies to defend the project. Roosevelt kept the project going. The problems involved in designing and building such an airplane were massive. Kaiser had suggested that the overall size of the first prototype be seventy tons, but Hughes made the work more challenging by changing the size to some two hundred tons.

The goal was an aircraft that could carry , pounds of cargo or troops twice the passenger load of a modern Boeing Working at the Hughes Aircraft Company plant in Culver City, California, and at other sites, the Hughes team tested a variety of shapes for air and water efficiency.

Instead of a double-hulled plane, Hughes choose a single-hulled design which would require a wingspan 50 percent larger than the next largest plane of the time, the Martin JRM Mars.

It was also decided that the aircraft would have a sizeable single vertical tail. The final design divided the interior of the fuselage into two decks connected by a spiral staircase: a flight control deck for the operating crew and a cargo deck. Two railroad cars could fit in the interior cargo space, on a floor that was designed to carry pounds per square foot.

If planks were provided for its tracks, a ton army tank could drive inside, under its own power, without the need to dismantle any part of the tank.

The hull also contains eighteen watertight compartments, twelve of which might flood without sinking the craft.

In its final design, the Spruce Goose has an overall length of feet. Its foot wingspan exceeds even that of the U. The tail alone, at feet, is more than eight stories high. The hull is feet wide and the wings, at their thickest, are more than 11 feet thick.

The craft has a gross weight of , pounds and a range of 3, miles. It cruises at miles per hour and has a landing speed of 78 miles per hour.

Eight of these twenty-eight-cylinder, 3,horsepower engines were mounted in the wings. The engines, radial in shape, sport four-blade Hamilton. May, Federal government official F. November, A new Kaiser-Hughes corporation signs a federal government contract to design and manufacture Spruce Goose aircraft.

August, Hughes begins testimony before a congressional committee investigating the Spruce Goose project. Standard propellers more than 17 feet in diameter. There are a total of spark plugs to service and maintain.

Flight controls that would respond reliably and quickly were a special problem for such a gigantic aircraft. The layout of the flight controls on the flight deck is conventional—a dual column and wheel to turn the elevator and ailerons, and pedals for the rudder.