This Day in the Yesteryear: FIRST AND ONLY FLIGHT OF THE “SPRUCE GOOSE” (1947)

First and Only Flight of the “Spruce Goose” (1947)

A few years before going into complete seclusion, millionaire aviator and airplane manufacturer Howard Hughes built and piloted the only flight of the Hughes H-4 Hercules, the largest flying boat—indeed the largest airplane—in history. He designed the seaplane as a troop and materiel transport for the US War Department and manufactured it almost entirely from wood because of wartime restrictions on the use of aluminum. Though nicknamed the “Spruce Goose,” it was actually primarily made of what? More…