Friday, 2 November 2012

On This Day: 2 Nov 1947 - Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose" flies for 1st (& last) time



The Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the "Spruce Goose"; registration NX37602) is a prototype heavy transport aircraft designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft company. The aircraft made its first and only flight on November 2, 1947, and the project never advanced beyond the single example produced. Built from wood because of wartime restrictions on the use of aluminum and concerns about weight, its critics nicknamed it the "Spruce Goose," despite it 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.

Photo Legacy: Making your memories last forever www.photolegacy.com

Image courtesy of the San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives under the Creative Commons  Agreement on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/7094477279/in/faves-61031972@N04/

Research courtesy of Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce_goose 

Share/Bookmark

No comments:

Post a Comment