+64 06 3555515
Description
The Spruce Goose, the first aircraft with a wingspan in excess of 300 feet, was also the largest flying boat ever built. Designed and constructed by the Hughes Aircraft Company, it made its one and only flight Nov. 2, 1947, in Long Beach.
Why was it built?
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. Kaiser dropped out of the project early, leaving Hughes’ team to make the H-4 (the plane’s real name) a reality.
In the first nine months of U.S. involvement in the war, over 500 Allied ships were sunk by submarines. By the end of 1942, the American public was deeply concerned about the depletion of U.S. naval power.
The Spruce Goose was funded by the federal government, which was eager for a way to transport troops and cargo across the Atlantic Ocean, well out of the sights of deadly German submarines.
