| H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" | |
|---|---|
| Role | Heavy transport flying boat |
| Manufacturer | Hughes Aircraft |
| First flight | November 2, 1947 |
| Produced | 1947 |
| Number built | 1 |
| Career | |
| Other name(s) | "Spruce Goose" |
| Registration | NX37602 |
| First flight | November 2, 1947 |
| Flights | 1 |
| Preserved at | Evergreen Aviation Museum |
The Hughes H-4 Hercules (registration NX37602) ("Spruce Goose") is a prototype heavy transport aircraft designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft company. The aircraft made its only flight on November 2, 1947 and the project was never advanced beyond the single example produced. Built from wood because of wartime raw material restrictions on the use of aluminum, it was nicknamed the "Spruce Goose" by its critics, despite being made almost entirely of birch, rather than spruce.[1] The Hercules is the largest flying boat ever built, and has the largest wingspan of any aircraft in history.[2] It survives in good condition at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, USA.
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In 1942, the U.S. War Department was faced with the need to transport war materiel and personnel to Britain. Allied shipping in the Atlantic Ocean was suffering heavy losses to German U-boats, so a requirement was issued for an aircraft that could cross the Atlantic with a large payload. Due to wartime priorities, the design was further constrained in that the aircraft could not be made of metal.
The aircraft was the brainchild of Henry J. Kaiser, a leading Liberty ship builder. He teamed with aircraft designer Howard Hughes to create what would become the largest aircraft built at that time. It was designed to be capable of carrying 750 fully equipped troops or one M4 Sherman tank.[3] The original designation "HK-1" reflected the Hughes and Kaiser collaboration.[4]
The HK-1 contract was issued in 1942 as a development contract,[5] and called for three aircraft to be constructed under a two-year deadline in order to be available for the war effort.[6] Seven configurations were considered,including twin-hull and single-hull designs with combinations of four, six and eight wing-mounted engines.[7] The final design chosen was a behemoth, eclipsing any large transport then built.[5][8] [N 1]To conserve metal, it would be built mostly of wood (its elevators and rudder were fabric covered[9]); hence, the "Spruce Goose" moniker tagged on the aircraft by the media. It was also referred to as the Flying Lumberyard by critics. Hughes himself detested the nickname "Spruce Goose".[10]
While Kaiser had originated the "flying cargo ship" concept, he did not have an aeronautical background and deferred to Hughes and his designer, Glenn Odekirk.[8] Development dragged on, which frustrated Kaiser, who blamed delays partly on restrictions placed for the acquisition of strategic materials such as aluminum, but also placed part of the blame on Hughes' insistence on "perfection."[11] Although construction of the first HK-1 had taken place 16 months after the receipt of the development contract, Kaiser withdrew from the project.[10]
Hughes continued the program on his own under the designation "H-4 Hercules",[N 2] signing a new government contract that now limited production to one example. Work proceeded slowly, with the result that the H-4 was not completed until well after the war was over. It was built by the Hughes Aircraft Company at Hughes Airport, location of present day Playa del Rey, Los Angeles, California, employing the plywood-and-resin "Duramold" process[12] [N 3] – a form of composite technology – for the laminated wood construction, which was considered a technological tour de force.[4] It was shipped by a company specializing in house moving, in three large sections consisting of the fuselage, each wing, and a fourth smaller shipment containing the tail assembly parts and other smaller assemblies on streets to Pier E in Long Beach, California. After final assembly, a hangar was erected around the flying boat at that location, with a ramp to launch the H-4 into the harbor. This building became the first climate-controlled building in the United States.
In 1947, Howard Hughes was called to testify before the Senate War Investigating Committee over the usage of government funds for the aircraft.
During a Senate hearing on August 6, 1947 in the first of a series of appearances, Hughes said:
The Hercules was a monumental undertaking. It is the largest aircraft ever built. It is over five stories tall with a wingspan longer than a football field. That's more than a city block. Now, I put the sweat of my life into this thing. I have my reputation all rolled up in it and I have stated several times that if it's a failure I'll probably leave this country and never come back. And I mean it.[13] [N 4]
During a break in the Senate hearings, Hughes returned to California to run taxi tests on the H-4.[9] On November 2, 1947, the taxi tests were begun with Hughes at the controls. His crew included Dave Grant as co-pilot, and two flight engineers, 16 mechanics and two other flight crew. In addition, the H-4 carried seven invited guests from the press corps plus an additional seven industry representatives, for a total of 32 on board.[14]
After the first two taxi runs, four reporters left to file stories, but the remaining press stayed for the final test run of the day.[15] After picking up speed on the channel facing Cabrillo Beach near Long Beach, the Hercules lifted off, remaining airborne 70 ft (21 m) off the water at a speed of 135 miles per hour (217 km/h) for around a mile (1.6 km).[16] At this altitude, the aircraft was still experiencing ground effect.[17] Having proven to Hughes' detractors that his (by now unnecessary in peacetime) masterpiece was flight-worthy and thus vindicating his use of government funds,[18] the aircraft never flew again. Its lifting capacity and ceiling were never tested. A full-time crew of 300 workers, all sworn to secrecy, maintained the plane in flying condition in a climate-controlled hangar. The crew was reduced to 50 workers in 1962, and then disbanded after Hughes' death in 1976.[19]
In 1980, the Hercules was acquired by the California Aero Club, who put the aircraft on display in a large dome adjacent to the Queen Mary exhibit in Long Beach, California. In 1988, The Walt Disney Company acquired both attractions and the associated real estate. Disney informed the California Aero club that it no longer wished to display the Hercules after its highly ambitious Port Disney was scrapped. After a long search for a suitable host, the California Aero Club awarded custody of the Hughes flying boat to Evergreen Aviation Museum. Under the direction of museum staff, the aircraft was disassembled and moved by barge and truck to its current home in McMinnville, Oregon (about 40 miles (60 km) southwest of Portland) where it has been on display ever since. The Flying Boat arrived in McMinnville at Evergreen International Aviation on February 27, 1993 after a 138-day, 1,055-mile (1,698 km) trip from Long Beach.
By the mid-1990s, the former Hughes Aircraft hangars at Hughes Airport, including the one that held the Hercules, were converted into sound stages. Scenes from movies such as Titanic, What Women Want and End of Days have been filmed in the 315,000 square foot (29,000 m²) aircraft hangar where Howard Hughes created the flying boat. The hangar will be preserved as a structure eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Buildings in what is today the large light industry and housing development Playa Vista in suburban Los Angeles.
Performance specifications are projected.
General characteristics
Performance
In the 1988 biopic Tucker: The Man and His Dream, a pivotal meeting between automaker Preston Tucker and Howard Hughes takes place in front of the Hercules, within its hangar, where Hughes briefly tells Tucker that whether the Hercules flies is not the point, as well as how to circumvent the "establishment" and Senator Ferguson.
The 1987 animated feature Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose features the Hercules prominently.
In the 1991 adventure film The Rocketeer, hero Cliff Secord uses a large-scale model of the Hercules to escape some eager federal agents and Howard Hughes himself. After Secord glides the model to safety, Hughes expresses astonishment that the craft might actually fly.[20]
The Spruce Goose also played a minor role in the 2000 fictional flight simulator Crimson Skies (video game) by Microsoft after a recent pirate attack by the pirate gang the Fortune Hunters in Hollywood 1937, the Hollywood officials attempt to show publicity by showing the Spruce Goose to the public, but it gets stolen by the Fortune Hunters later who wants to underestimate them again, later in the game at New York the security firm Sacred Trust attempt to steal the Spruce Goose as well but it gets disabled by the Fortune Hunters before it can take off.
The construction and flight of the Hercules was featured in the Hughes 2004 biopic The Aviator. Motion control and remote control models, as well as partial interiors and exteriors of the aircraft, were reproduced for this scene. The motion-control Hercules used for the film is on display at the Evergreen Aviation Museum, next to the real Hercules.
In the L.A. Noire videogame (2011), exterior and interior views of the H-4 Hercules aircraft are featured in the opening introduction of the DLC mission "Nicholson Electroplating".[21][22]
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