Spruce GooseThe Spruce Goose is nickname commonly given to the
US Hughes H-4 Hercules, an aircraft designed and built by the
Hughes Aircraft company that was the largest flying boat, and
arguably the largest aircraft, ever built. Due to wartime
restrictions on the availablity of metals, the H-4 was built
almost entirely of laminated birch (not spruce as the erroneous
nickname would lead some to believe). The aircraft was a true
marvel in its time. It married an increasingly outdated
technology (flying boats) to a massive airframe that required
some truly ingenious engineering innovations. In 1942, the US
War Department was faced with the need to transport large
amounts of war material and personnel to Britain. With German
u-boats exacting a terrible price from allied shipping in the
Atlantic, a requirement was issued for a plane that could
traverse these deadly waters while carrying a large payload. The
aircraft was the brainchild of Henry Kaiser, who directed the
Liberty ships program. He teamed with aircaft