SPRUCE GOOSE: She Flew ONCE, 69 Years Ago Today!

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

I subscribe to THE HISTORY CHANNEL's daily email: THIS DAY IN HISTORY.

Today's feature: The 69th anniversary of the Spruce Goose's one and only flight, one mile with Howard Hughes at her controls.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-...a7642e8fe3993c77599ab617aee23d3ecf26cd4928376





Her wing span was longer than a football field!
During her only flight, Mr. Hughes had a man with a fire extinguisher standing INSIDE THE WING at each engine in the event of a fire! His fear was that the plywood plane could be completely destroyed should that happen.

 

[M813rc]

Had the opportunity to go through her in Oregon while I was up there. I was ready to head for home when Dave/HellonwheelsV100 blithely mentioned "You know the Goose is only a short distance from here in the Evergreen Museum...."
So, got home a couple of days later than planned.

I've flown in C-5s, but the Goose is still a HUGE plane. And full of beach balls.... (do some research. )

Cheers

 

[mutt_kahuna]

Here she is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXZQewzdWzA

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Here she is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXZQewzdWzA

Thanks for adding that!

So graceful an airplane.

I have read engineering studies that validate the design and predict that with a full fuel load but no cargo she could have most probably successfully flown loops, and would have had no problems doing common aerobatics, too.