1947: The Spruce Goose, with Hollywood producer-aviator-tycoon
Howard Hughes at the controls, makes its first — and only —
flight, skimming the waters of Long Beach Harbor in California
for roughly one minute. That short hop, made mostly for the
benefit of the press and newsreel cameras, was the climax of a
story that began more than five years earlier, at the height of
World War II. Appalled at the heavy toll being taken on Allied
shipping by the German U-boats, Henry J. Kaiser, builder of the
Liberty ships, proposed a fleet of gigantic flying transports to
move men and material across the Atlantic. After Kaiser enlisted
Hughes’ support, the two men sold their idea to the government
and walked away with an $18 million contract (about $250 million
in today’s money) to build three flying boats. Hughes, who had
attracted Kaiser’s interest because of his reputation as an
aircraft designer, set to work with his engineers. They came up
with the Hughes H-4 “Hercules,” an eight-engined behemoth with a
wingspan of 32