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Ever wish you could spend a day at one of the west-coast's largest aviation museums? Read all about a visit to the famous Flying Boat built by Howard Hughes...
The Spruce Goose Tour
By Howard Forder
Copyright © 2005 Forder Technical Services Inc.
With all eight engines at full throttle, it still took a long time to finally reach rotation speed of 75 knots and pull away from the water. Yes, for a good 70 long seconds and just over a mile on that day in 1947, the Hughes Flying Boat really could fly.
Only in Microsoft® Flight Simulator 2004, I kept it flying for a good hour and toured Los Angeles harbour complete with the Queen Mary and the first museum home dome of the Flying Boat. For the final stretch, I eased the throttles, applied full flaps and set her down at Long Beach Harbour at 100 knots, then proceeded to taxi back to the dome. Although any of us can fly her in Flight Simulator, she only flew that one time in 1947 and was laid to rest in aviation history as mission accomplished.
After seeing the same thing re-anacted in the movie "The Aviator" I turned to the Internet to find out where the Flying Boat was on display. I found her at The Evergreen Aviation Museum in Oregon State.
Then I traveled to McMinnville, Oregon on the US west coast to see the real thing. About 35 miles out of Portland, the anticipation grew as I rounded the last curve and headed up the road to the museum. I noticed to my right the Evergreen logo and an F-15 mounted on a concrete pillar in all its glory. Then I turned my head in the direction of the F-15 and noticed the building that houses the Spruce Goose; the one and only. Even from across the highway I could see the magnificent Goose stretching from one side of the building to the other. They literally built the museum around the plane! And they made the A frame front out of glass for the whole world to see inside. What a sight for an aviation enthusiast. What an excellent backdrop for the 47 other vintage aircraft on display. But I was there for one plane, and it was big.
So How Big Was It?
To walk into the museum and look up at the plane, it hovers high over all people and airplanes around it. A DC-3; a record breaking and historical aircraft in its own right was dwarfed by the left wing of the Goose. The DC-3 appeared as small as a Cessna 150 by comparison. Everything in the Goose's shadow seemed small. Under the right wing was an SR-71 Blackbird and it appeared as small as a paper airplane compared to the gigantic right wing which extended all the way to the far wall with its own 4 engines and right float.
The Hughes Flying Boat has a wing span of 320 feet, larger than a football field and over a hundred feet wider than a 747! It was designed as a freighter and 700 passenger trans-Atlantic Flying boat to get war troops and vehicles safely to the other side without intervention by boat-sinking submarines. Through millions of grant money and millions of Howard Hughes own capital, the dream came true but only after the war was over and at the controls of Howard Hughes himself, an accomplished aviator and record setter.
As you can tell by the nick name "Spruce Goose" you can guess that it was made out of wood. This is true but certainly not of spruce. Less than one percent of the plane is spruce and only for filler. The plane was made mostly of birch because tests proved it light, strong, and resistant to splitting, dry rot and deterioration. As you can see, here in 2005 it is beautiful and fully intact, due to planning in the 1940s and restoration efforts at the museum. There are small amounts of maple, poplar, balsa and yes, spruce. Howard Hughes had agreed not to use aluminum and steel as they were needed for the war effort.
So... What was it like being inside?
To climb up the stairs and enter the cargo deck was like walking onto a cruise ship. Cavernous and skeletal, the inside looked like the hull of a military cargo ship. It really isn't that glamorous at all, but certainly huge. As an experimental plane, they still hadn't taken the time or money to furnish the interior so it really was a shell. Looking down into the "step" of that single hull boat showed the various fire extinguisher tanks for the engines with miles of tubing and gauges and I am told there were 8 1000 gallon gas tanks. Looking up, you can see miles of control cables and electrical wires in the ceiling. Looking back you can see the large tail piece that was to hold hundreds of soldiers although hollowed out as it was, didn't look so big. We weren't allowed to go there for museum reasons of some sort.
Looking forward was the same hollowed out shell all the way forward. There really isn't much to see for an aviation enthusiast except for the fact that you are inside the famous plane. The forward cargo hatch was open and an anchor line was leading out to the ground below, just like on a ship.
Probably the most disappointing part of the tour is that they don't allow anyone onto the flight deck above. We had to look at pictures and imagine. So the movie helps us understand what it was really like on the flight deck. Apparently, when it was on display in Long Beach (in the dome) millions of visitors poked and vandalized the flight deck so its off limits to you and I now. But that's ok, seeing this giant up close is enough.
The Real Thrill!
Quite honestly, the real thrill is seeing this beauty from the outside. It is so smooth and massive that it is hard to believe that it is made of wood. It even looks like aluminum and steel. The eight 3200 horsepower engines all in a row and the engineering genius of hydraulic, oil, gas and electrical systems have won it the Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark designation for her progressive contributions to mechanical engineering in 13 different areas, including laminated wood construction, multiple hydraulic components, fuel and oil systems, engine and flight control systems and fire protection. The designation places this American Aviation icon in the same category as the Saturn V Rocket.
After taking hundreds of digital photos and circling the boat one last time, I forced myself to walk away. I did visit the other planes but kept looking over my shoulder at the mountainous plane overhead that made aviation history. I even visited the nearby Spruce Goose café for lunch with full view of the Goose in my sights. Before I reluctantly left the building, I visited the museum store where I bought a plastic model kit of the Goose, various books on the plane including a copy of the flight manual (wow! And one for my brother) some goose jackets, t-shirts and hats and the Flying boat video story, I left.
I drove slowly and stopped across the highway were it all started. I looked down the nose of the F-15 and took in the awe of the Spruce Goose, sitting there waiting for the rest of the world to come and see this engineering marvel from so many years ago. If your travels take you anywhere near the west coast, make it a point to add a day to your trip and visit the museum. It is a thrill of a lifetime for aviation enthusiasts.
Thank you Captain Michael King Smith and his father, Delford M. Smith who shared a vision to create a world class aviation museum in Oregon as a lasting tribute to historical flying machines and famous flyers - where education would improve people's lives.
You can download Hughes Flying Boat from www.fsfreeware.com and fly her yourself in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, then visit the Aviation Museum web site and buy the plastic model kit, the Goose story video and a number of other things from their web site www.sprucegoose.org. I am sure you will love it as much as I have.
-Howard Forder
howard@forderlearntofly.com
Copyright © 2005 Forder Technical Services Inc.