Spruce Goose: The LARGEST Plane Ever Made!
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- Опубликовано: 16 сен 2024
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The Spruce Goose is an aviation icon that started off as a sensible but incredibly ambitious wartime aircraft project, driven by one man’s passion. But the only reason it ever got to fly is because that passion became an obsession.
Today, we'll look at how Howard Hughes developed and maintained the H-4 Hercules over a period of decades, the history of seaplanes and flying boats, and why the Spruce Goose will be forever be remembered as a truly classic aircraft.
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Below you will find the links to videos and sources used in this episode.
SOURCES
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• Flight of the Spruce G...
• HOWARD HUGHES FLYING B...
• The Howard Hughes Archive
• Howard Hughes - H-4 He...
• "Size 36" The first p...
• Flying Boats 1930`s - ...
• The Boeing 314: Pan Am...
• China Clipper: Pan Am'...
• The Battle of the Atla...
• (1/12) Battlefield I: ...
• Boeing Model 314 Clipp...
• De Havilland Mosquito:...
• Henry Kaiser Think Big
• Howard Hughes - Decade... v
• Hughes H-1 Racer Test ...
• Sky High: The Story of...
• HAC Hughes Aircraft Co...
• TA-1 First Flight
• Boeing Model 307 Strat...
• The Cessna Caravan: On...
• The Spruce Goose's Mai...
• Airport | Shell Histor...
• China Clipper: Pan Am'...
• First Flight of the se... v
• How the US Started Cod...
• Impact of World War II...
• Evergreen Museum: Movi...
• The Spruce Goose and i...
• Antonov AN-225 cargo t...
#Mentourpilot #pilot #aircraft #plane #airplane #sprucegoose
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21:51 this is obviously an AI-generated picture. I figured that this channel was better than that and only wanted to share truth and not fabrication.
Soviet Union’s supplies through the “land lease” amounted to about 5% of the total equipment and other supplies used for the war…
So as much as the western propaganda tries to claim that they had any significant role in the war against the brown plague - it really didn’t..
(I mean Standard Oil also supplied the Luftwffe with kerosine at the same time)
And the only reason why the Normandy landing took place is because the Soviets were about to crash the na.. is and the Americans wanted to occupy at least some part of Europe…
That is why for the long 3 years (1941-1944) all the calls to the British and Americans to open the second front fell on deaf ears… coz in reality they actually wished that the Germans won 🤷♂️
Thank you for not pitching BetterHelp for this episode!
Can't turn trees into a transport. What is your take on Melvin Dummar, and the fuss over Howard's will?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_Dummar
@@splifstar85 How many Lend Lease trucks were provided?
Kind of a throwback to see you on the sofa. Brings back memories of the dogs.
Same crappy sofa too😂 mentour hasn't sold out!
And It’s a lovely sofa. It’s just missing the classic red and green pillows…
ruclips.net/video/FQN8UTLLU0M/видео.htmlsi=C1yNdDiKlDdOF3h0 the spruce moose😂
Need a doggie cameo in next video!!
Bro those videos were the best
I like the "house" setting, it's like "grandpa, tell us a story" setting. 😄 feels natural to me like the early videos.
Great! I was filming it from my vacation home in Sweden.. it’s very rural
@MentourNow I love it! I prefer it over behind the desk video's. Which are fine, but this is more relaxed (for both 😄) More recording from Sweden!
Time for a green screen... 😅
In the end , Hughes was a debilitated, senile wreck. This often happens to those who are handed everything- including access to any woman one chooses. He led an interesting but sad life.
@@vanzell1912 yeah everyone goes senile before death. Shocker. But sure, use the guy to try and reinforce your judgemental and petty world views, why don't you.
And why would ships traditionally moored on the 'port' side? Because before they had central rudders, ships had steering oars hanging out from one side which had to be kept away from the pier to avoid entangling or breaking it. That oar was known as the 'steer board'. One side of the ship became the 'steer board side' and the other the 'port side'' and later became 'starboard' and 'port'.
Awesome fact!
I checked this with the OED and you are right. So many explanations of word origins online are wrong so I always check
🕯️🕯️🕯️🕯️ starboard side and port side 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊💡💡💡💡💡💡💡💡💡
Thanks!
I knew the origins of starboard but I had no idea that that was the reason for port. Makes sense.
I assume that steer board is right side because almost everyone is right-hand dominant. Makes sense. Thanks for the info, man. The things we learn everyday 😄
My father worked for Hughes Aircraft. He was employee number 32 or 33. He graduated from Carnegie Tech as a Aircraft structural engineer. He had numerous involvements with Howard himself, including related to the Spruce goose, the lead engineer for the structural design of the fuselage. he also was the Hughes representative at Fairchild when they built the wings and tail section of the twin engine recon aircraft. He taught Howard structural engineering one night in Howards kitchen, and said that it was scary how fast he picked up the ideas. After that overnight session, you couldn’t pull any wool over his eyes on structural design.
My mother was the secretary for the production manager to Hughes Aircraft . Howard paid for their honeymoon when, almost without any warning, he sent five people to do the design for the flying boxcar for another company. When my father was in New York working on the reconnaissance job, my mother couldn’t get to New York from LA because she had two cats. Hughes put her, the cats and a servant on a i’m a railroad carriage.
He had numerous other interactions with Hughes until he finally resigned about three months before World War II ended. To do that he had to get permission from Hughes to resign and Hughes flow him from New York to LA and put him up with the cottages at the I forget the name of it restaurant hotel in Hollywood.
My great uncle was Glenn Odekirk. I don't know if he even had an "employee #" but if he did it would have been 1 or 2 as he was Howard's right hand man. I'm afraid to tell you that your story sounds very exaggerated which for whatever reason is very common when it comes Howard Hughes. It seems like many people have some story to tell.
@@diablouser I worked for Hughes employee #108331. I was a supervisor of an employee that was taken out of the lab to go to Long Beach because he knew how to remove the H-4 wings for transport to Oregon
How old are you???
Well. Living in a fantasy world are we?
These Memories are worth to be put in a book!
I saw the spruce goose as a child and my sense of its size may have been affected by my own small size but it seemed massive. For some reason years later when I saw the Vasa, also made of wood, it made me think of the Spruce Goose
I got to touch the Vasa - with gloves. The perks of being blind are few, but I'll take my wins where I can. Luckily back then I had enough vision to appreciate it visually as well.
It's still massive.
But it is also beautiful in a way no other plane is.
I worked at Hughes Aircraft and my wife was an FA at Pan Am. So you incorporated both of our heritage in this video. Thanks
That’s not heritage, that’s experience.
@@sqwk2559 the most experienced airline. Lol
This is a nice little treat for a Monday morning
Enjoy!
I grew up and lived in Long Beach the first 34 years of my life, and the spruce goose was a regular part of life. Most schools had field trips to see it and many families went on a regular basis. I always thought it was awesome.
Very cool!
Many decades ago, I drove to Long Beach to see the Spruce goose, and the Queen Mary
I've sat in the cockpit pilot's seat of THIS airplane. It is in the Evergreen Air & Space Museum. You can, too!
It is truly something to behold... I can't type it all out here. You have to make the trip to go see it in person for yourself. (While you're there, there's also MiGs and an actual SR-71!)
Me too... so fun to see that plane. We love visiting the Evergreen Air & Space Museum.
Many different aircrafts out there, that’s why I think there’re not enough time to gain all the infos in that museum in just one day.🤔
Are you a pilot?
I need to go see this stuff in person too!
@willykang1293 There's not... I know... because I literally spent the entire day there - from the minute they opened, until 5-10 minutes past closing! 😄
And I went to almost every building, but we rushed through the final chunk because they were closing.
I took over 1000 photos! 😄
Saw it many times next to the queen mary in long beach. Hughes was a unique man. Thanks howard for many amazing things. This plane, glomar explorer. I sat in the captains seat several times in awe.
Hughes may not have produced any series airplanes, but they did produce helicopters which are still being produced by three companies today - Boeing (Apache and Little Bird), MD Helicopters (the commercial models spun off by Boeing after acquiring McDonnell Douglas), and Schweizer RSG.
When I used to work for McDonnell Douglas Helicoper, I used to work in Bldg 15, which was the building where the Spruce Goose was built in Culver City, CA when Hughes developed the property. The building was constructed using the same lamination techniques. At one time it was the biggest free standing structure in the world. The building is now owned by Google.
I loved this video. Please keep them coming.
I actually met an old man who had been an engineer on the Hercules project. After we spoke for a few hours about aviation, he excused himself for a few minutes and returned with a concept drawing of the HK-1. He gave it to me and I charished for years before losing it to a house fire. In that fire I also lost a historic issue of Radio Electronics, and Altair 8800, and many model aircraft I had built growing up. The concept drawing had the signatures of many of the engineers and I was told that when the project ended, everyone who had worked on the project took all the momentoes they could carry because they all knew they had worked on something extremly special.
In the 1980's I saw the Spruce Goose in Long Beach, Ca, it was impressive. Hughes wood technology ideas would eventually succeed with companies like Trus Joist who manufacture wood "I" floor joists and other products. Hughes was interesting, an oil man, aviator, movie director, aircraft designer, manufacturer and more than this.
I was fortunate enough to have visited the Spruce Goose back in 1984, when it was still in Long Beach, California, in its giant display dome, next to the RMS Queen Mary ocean liner. Very impressive.
Your series on historic planes is better than high cost production on television. These are exceptionally well-made short documentaries. Love your analysis of accidents as I’m a pilot however I really love the series of these historic planes and keep the videos coming! Thx petter
It should be mentioned that this aircraft pioneered the use of power boosted control surfaces. There were technical developments for this aircraft that were new for this time period.
I visited the Evergreen Air Museum and found it amazing how all of the other aircraft were so completely dwarfed by it. After spending time observing all of the other aircraft I had the strange sensation that it wasn’t even there. It was as though it was part of the whole structure of the building. Being a woodworking hobbyist I found the wood structure and joinery fascinating too. It’s worth a visit.
I personally consider it a huge success. Hughes managed to create a unique and groundbreaking aircraft under war time conditions in a remarkably short time frame. The fact that the need for it disappeared is not the fault of Hughes.
I saw it in Long Beach when I was little. I couldn't understand why something so marvelous and perfect had only been allowed to fly one brief flight, and then had been hidden away and left to languish. The adult world never seemed stranger to me.
Me to, in 86 in the giant dome next to the the Queen Mary , which i also went on.
I got to sit in the pilots seat of the H4 back in 2014. The Evergreen air and space museum was by far the best aviation museum I've visited. Definitely worth the 4 hour drive from Seattle.
I have, indeed been to visit the Spruce Goose, it bears mentioning that the museum she lives in was in its own way the product of an aviation lover whose businesses ran into trouble, yet took a loss in his business to be sure the museum stayed alive. and it has a lot more of aviation and space exploration represented than just the Goose.
I've been there as well. It's a nice complex.
@@muddobber6863and next to a building with a 747 on top of it. Such a strange place
@@DerkiboiThat would be the museum’s water park.
@@CheckSixAviation correct, I've been there. All of the 4 slides go through the 747
@@CheckSixAviationthe museum doesn’t actually own the water park fyi. It is run by a separate company.
Funny story, was still a PPL Student when I was on a Cross Country flight with my Instructor from BC, Canada to California. One of our over night stays was McMinnville Oregon, right across the airport was this Air and Space museum, we thought it'd be cool to check out before we went to the hotel. Imagine the shock we had when we realized the Spruce Goose was at the museum. Was an awesome experience, tons of pictures, funny how those things just happen
My grandfather saw the Spruce Goose fly when he was in med school down in California after WWII. I've seen it in person in Oregon and can't even fathom how impressive it would have been to see it fly in person.
I appreciate you making this on holiday!
OMG You covered it! This is my favorite plane ever built.
On of the things that struck me about seeing it in person is its beauty and shape. No other plane is as smooth and refined. It is remarkable.
I have seen the Spruce Goose many times and sat in the cockpit at least twice. I live only about an hour away from the Evergreen Aviation Museum.
I got to see the Spruce Goose on a field trip in elementary school. It was in a gigantic white dome next to the Queen Mary in Long Beach. It was a magical day for a kid.
WE WANT THE CARBON GOOSE..!!!! 😊 Howard was a "special" type of person. OCD can be a helping or hindering affliction, i know. His obsessions, especially with what i believe he saw as his most complex challenge and therefore truly his "child," could be costly but extremely rewarding. Amazing man. Weird but amazing 😊
I had the privilege of going inside this aircraft when it was at Long Beach and these pictures don't do it Justice this things a building with wings.
My dad took me to watch it fly. We lived in Long Beach at the time.
I am privileged to live 10 minutes away from the Evergreen Aviation Museum, in McMinville, OR, where the Goose resides. What an amazing piece of engineering and craftsmanship. If you are ever in the area, definitely check it out.
If you do visit, there is an Airshow in McMinnville every Labor Day weekend!
Spend a day at Evergreen at the museum and water park. Then go to Pearson/Murdock in Vancouver the next!
As a kid, trips to Long Beach were triply fun, as I could see the Spruce Goose, go next door to the Queen Mary and then visit the Long Beach Naval Shipyard where my father worked. Sadly, only the Queen remains there, though it’s good that she’s receiving some love.
I have seen the Spruce Goose in McMinnville. I am not sure what was more fascinating to me, the plane itself or seeing my Dad in his late 70's being giddy like a kid getting to see it for the 1st time. I always knew he was an aviation buff, but had no idea how much it captured his imagination when he was growing up. Tho I have to admit, seeing the SR-71 setting by it caught my attention too!
I had a chance to see it in Long Beach before it was moved to it's current home. It truly was an amazing piece of engineering that helped kick off my interest in Aerospace and the Engineering field and I hope it continues to inspire every kid that sees it.
It definitely is worth seeing in person, and you can get tours to go inside and sit down in the cockpit. It's incredible how dozens of fighter jets are on display under the H-4 and it just dwarfs them. It's one of those things that is so big it is hard to appreciate even when viewing it in person. The museum is on par with the National Air and Space Museum in DC and you can easily spend all day just looking at planes, helicopters, space craft and watching an IMAX film. You can easily fly into Portland and drive to McMinnville, OR. There is also an wonderful indoor waterpark next door which included a retired cargo 747.
This last weekend was the last flight of the Hawaii Martin Mars, another huge flying boat. Not as big as the Goose, but huge.
I saw the last takeoff! Fantastic aircraft
I just missed its arrival at Victoria International, I had just left on a tiny little 737...
Flying boats are my favourite type of plane. Hands down
I am terrified of flying and actively avoid this mode of transport. However, I would use a flying boat and pay handsomely for it if necessary.
@@paullaurencesweeney5255 Sadly they died out when airports actually got better then a strip of dirt in most places...unless in some special cases, like firefighters plane. But i dont think you can get to those.
100% love the throw back to the older videos on the sofa. Just missing the dogs haha. Great content as always.
Great weekend to highlight a flying boat... saw the srpuce goose years ago in the museum...
This weekend saw the Martin Mars Hawaii flown to Victoria for retirement into the BC Aviation Museum
I watched the Aviator and thought it was very well done. The movie ends with the flight of the Hercules. I appreciate the history shown here including flying boats and the connections. Also, the modern "Hercules" is also an after thought to most people, despite the durability and very long use. That is the C-130 in US terms. Nowhere near the size, similar by name only to honor Hughes.
Interesting. I thought Lockheed built the C130. Was it really named Hercules to honor Hughes?
I lived in Oregon when the Goose was moved. It was shipped down the Willamette River on barges. The tail barely fit under several of the bridges.
The Evergreen Aviation museum prides itself on maintaining the air worthiness of all of the planes in its collection. The Goose dwarfs all of the other aircraft in the collection. It's an hour south of Portland and worth the drive.
I hope to make it to the museum on a day to the engines are tested.
The television show Leverage featured the Goose in one of their episodes.
I had a chance to visit the Spruce Goose and visit the cockpit in 1990 when it was in Long Beach. My father, who was present when the first flight took place (he worked at Los Angeles Harbor in San Pedro) was there also. It was impressive to walk around inside of.
I have sat in the Pilots seat in this plane. To say that it's BIG is just nuts, it's GINOURMOUS! The detail they went through to build it is incredible and it still looks awesome today!
Hughes may have been an eccentric but he had great vision and was a huge influence on air travel today. He proved his plane would fly when many said it wouldn't.
I visited The Spruce Goose in Los Angeles Harbour in 1981 ....... Amazing plane
I’m glad the Spruce Goose can still be seen (and toured inside) in a museum in Oregon. I loved visiting that museum!
This is a beautiful big bird. I am lucky enough to have sat in the Captain's chair of the spruce goose at it's current (and likely final) place of residence in Oregon. It is truly a massive beast.
I love this episode! More historical vids are always welcome. Thank you for all the fascinating info!
In 1959 my dad drove us out to Victoria Airport just north of the city of Victoria to show us the Mars flying boats sitting on the tarmac still painted in grey. Four of them were eventually converted into water bombers operating out of Sproat Lake on Vancouver Island. Last night the last of these four, the Hawaii Mars, made it's last flight from Sproat Lake to Patricia Bay just north of Victoria where it will be stored as a museum piece. It's last flight overflew much of the east coast of Vancouver Island accompanied by the Snowbirds aerobatic team. The last leg took it over Victoria and right over my house at low level. Damn it was loud. I can't imagine how loud the Spruce Goose would have been if it had ever flown overhead.
Flying boats were special. At least to me, they were. I learned to fly in a Grumman Goose. That was 40 years ago and I can still close my eyes and hear the roar of her radials.
Never flown a real plane, but I spent many hours in a Grumman Goose on Microsoft FSX. I used to love taking off from my local airport, and flying over to a lake up in a mountain area about half an hour (flying time) away.
I absolutely love flying boats! Elegant, old school stuff. Would love more on vintage stuff. Thank you Peter 🫡
Paul Allen is one of the underrated visionaries of our time. Someone that had a great heart and soul as well.
Stratolaunch is a white elephant.
Not to mention an amazing business card
Honestly enjoyed the more informal setting. A nice change from the very professional setting we have all got used to. Maybe try it out now and then every so and often
Although I knew some of the history of the Spruce Goose, your explanation of it was wonderful as usual! Especially the extras of how boarding ships and airplanes is always on the left side! Good stuff!
Great that you liked it!!
I’d never really thought much about aviation and now am obsessed! - I’m so grateful to have discovered you! Your channels are absolutely superb, your style hypnotic and it’s all done so well 💯❤✈️
I visited McMinnville three times after reading the account of how the Spruce Goose was disassembled, transported, stored and finally reassembled at Evergreen’s facility. The aircraft is enormous. So large, in fact, it sits in a huge pit inside the museum building. Never got a chance to tour the inside of the aircraft. I guess the tours of the interior came later. The museum has lots of other planes to see - definitely worth the trip.
If you go to McMinnville, it’s not too far from the NAS Tillamook where the Navy housed blimps during WWII. The blimps are gone and only one of the huge hangers survive. The second hanger burned down years ago. They were amazing structures, gigantic to match the scale of the blimps, with clear span construction. The first hanger (I think it is the surviving structure) took quite a few months to build as the Oregon winter when it was built was uncharacteristically terrible. The second structure was built in about a single month. Unbelievable even today.
When we visited Tillamook there were a good number of planes on display but the hanger is so huge it seemed almost empty. And there were used parts lying all over the place, including a 3420 Twin Allison V-24 engine. Dirty, oily, & just lying there. Great stuff for a mechanical engineer on holiday.
If your wife is with you, be sure to drive up the highway to the Tillamook Cheese factory & take the tour. You get samples. Good stuff.
I would LOVE to see a video about PANAM and his Clipper fleet back in the 30's .... Aaaahhh, the golden age of aviation!
This seems like it might tie in well to a video on the Lun-class ekranoplane
Or any other ground effect plane, come to think of it. That one is possible the most famous. but there definitely are more successful ones.
@@PavelKostromitinov I can dig it!
Funnily enough, the first place I heard the name Spruce Goose was actually in the video game Crimson Skies. The aircraft features in a mission in that game and, given the alternate history leanings of the game's setting, it didn't occur to me it was also a real aircraft.
I visited the Spruce Goose along with the Queen Mary a year or so before it was moved out of L.A. the most memorable thing was the emense amount of exposed wood. It was breathtaking or mesmerizing to see a plane with nothing covering the walls of the interior. The wood was pristine as though it was just constructed.
My grandpa's company did the wiring for the museum that it currently is stored in. I Remember going with my grandpa to work one day as a kid and seen this massive plane. It was moved in five parts. Each Wing was broken into two separate parts and the fuselage was another
Spruce sounds like Bristol Brabazon, a very large airliner with piston engines that came into service just as jet powered airliners were coming into service. Powered by 8 × Bristol Centaurus 18-cylinder air-cooled radial sleeve-valve piston engines, 2,650 hp (1,980 kW) each paired, driving contra-props through combining gearboxes.
A truly beautiful aircraft.
I’ve been waiting a long time for your take on this airplane!🎉
Amazing, simply amazing 😂
Too enthralled to eat my popcorn!
Howard Hughes was a genius! To see this beauty in person, pictures & video don't do it justice. He took "Imagination is more important than knowledge."- AE, to the next level in all his endeavors.
We have been on this plane and the size is next level the cockpit has steps up to the pilot seats, it has access in the wings where they would be able to work on the engines in flight
"Hop in!"
"But sir..."
*cocks gun* "I said hop in..."
“We’ll take the Spruce Moose!”
That reference introduced a generation to the spruce goose.
Many times I prowled around, and in the Spruce Goose. It is amazing to see a DC-3 tucked neatly beneath the stbd wing, a MIG nearby, and the Goose looming over many more planes, its wings almost like a protective mother.
What a fascinating story! I didn't know nothing about Spruce Goose until I saw it myself in McMinnville, Oregon in March of this year. I thought it was a super big model of a smaller plane. Couldn't believe its really capable of flying until someone told me so at the museum! Wish I can share my pics here. Also they have a B747 at this museum.
I had the pleasure of seeing the Spruce Goose, when I was working in Oregon last year. It was an amazing experience! Thank you for doing another interesting and informative video, Petter!
Hop in, Smithers.
_But Sir, I...._
**clicks gun**
I said - Hop. In.
Great coverage of this monster. This series is fast becoming as much a favourite of mine as your other videos.
I am loving the new segways into sponsor segments. Its so clean and smooth and makes it feel like a part of the video!
I've heard other analysis of the Spruce Goose over the years. It's too bad Hughes never got to try retrofitting Jet Turbines are full jet engines to it - as good as the radials were, many stories I've read over the years say they were under powered and have claimed that's why Hughes never brought the Goose out of ground effect.
Thank you for keeping this so factual and interesting at the same time.
Edit: I found what I believe is the origin of the claims it was under powered. See comment in the replies if you care.
Isnt the takeoff when a piston engine aircraft needs the most power? If it was underpowered should it have even left out of the water at all for as long as it did? Im just finding it hard to believe this was being built under a government contract for military purposes and no math was done to figure power requirements for its intended purpose. Im sure Howard and his people probably ran the numbers for all of that before the first board was ever cut or screw turned. The stories about it being underpowered are probably just that...stories.
@@gearhead762 Engine type makes no difference to an aircraft on takeoff other than power to weight ratio. All aircraft need to accelerate to takeoff and this is usually when they need the most power.
As to the stories, yes they are just that. I decided to track down where they came from and found a couple issues of Popular Mechanics from decades ago that point to the likely source. Sen. Owen Brewster said it was a "flying lumber yard" that would never get off the water. From the article, the Goose took off at just 60 mph with 15 degrees of flap, having already taxied at 80mph, so it was definitely capable of flight.
This source was from the November 1981 issue of Popular Mechanics. I also found another interesting article from November 1977. I think both are worth a read. You can look them up on Google Books for free.
I still think that Hughes would have loved to replace the 8 radials with four jet engines. It would have been an absolute rocket then.
@gearhead762
Except not.
Even in the modern days of computational fluid dynamics done by super computers on commercial airplanes that must make a profit (vs being bottomless cost-plus-fee defence contracts), we’ve produced underpowered planes.
The Airbus A340 is a prime example of a modern underpowered aircraft. Yes, it flies, and it even flies safely. But it has large limitations in runway length, temperatures, payload, altitude (takeoff and cruising as well as climb rate), range, and engine out scenarios.
And the root cause is the same for both of them.. lack of a suitable engine and the engines that they used were at the absolute limits of their development-meaning there was no room for growth or to account for airframe and power plant degradation over time.
The Martin Mars was the same too. Underpowered by R-3350s, then adequately powered by the same R-4360s the Spruce Goose used.. but they were too expensive and failure prone to be used in commercial operations so it was swapped back to R-3350s. This meant that the Mars was slow and took an extremely long time to transit and took up valuable airspace for a long time over a forest fire.
Even the mighty P6M Seamaster was underpowered. This is why Pratt & Whitney developed the J58-by far the most powerful jet engine of the time. But US Navy priorities moved away from flying boats and it was never used… instead sitting idle until the CIA needed an off-the-shelf engine with the thermodynamic power to propel a twin engine aircraft past Mach 3.
I love your Chanel. I Remember when I used to be your cabin crew and it feels a bit like family. Wish you all the best. Your videos are each time more interesting. Keep on rockin ❤
I've heard about the Spruce Goose, much of my life but I never heard anyone explain why it was built and why it was obsolete when it was finished. So, thanks for the video.
Thanks. My dad works for TWA and this gave me a good idea of what his crazy boss really was about. All I remember about him was that he had problem with never cutting his nails so they were very long and it was really strange when he met people. So I think he kind of went a little mad by the end of his life. Thanks For putting together a really perfect picture of what planet this represented.
i went to see this thing in an aviation museum once with my dad. it was majestic, even if it wasnt very effective. last i heard, that museum shut down. glad i got to see it, even if i only remember the effect it had me, and not how it looked.
The Hercules/Spruce Goose is amazing to see up close and personal! Thanks for reminding me. I have a friend who has never seen it and we have been putting together a trip to the area around where the plane currently resides. I used to go see it in its former location.
I already know the story of the Spruce Goose, but decided to watch your video anyway because I always learn something new!
Your history is spot-on Petter. Great episode. I was interested in the success of the P&W R4360 which was indifferent, a factor in any realistic future of the design. I suspect the fuselage dimensions were set around the size of the M-4 Sherman tank.
How can you comment on a video which is released 2 hours ago and the comment shows it was done 3 days ago 😮😮
@@rex77x Patreon subscribers get the release early.
I was wondering that also. If one of those motors ever came loose or lost any balance by throwing a prop, how would that wooden frame ever hold up to those forces? I would fear that one major motor malfunction would tear the whole wing off. Plus weren't those motors heavy as hell?
@@malcolm20091000
Probably an engine fire would be more of a worry in a wood wing. The de Havilland Mosquito was one of the great aircraft of WWII (which had the same construction). Effectively laminated wood in those days was a composite type of material.
@@malcolm20091000 The engines were among the largest radial engines ever manufactured and used, but proved unreliable in the Boeing Stratocruiser. Critical frames were aluminum. Losing a propeller blade was pretty rare and the engine would immediately shut down.
Yes I've seen it! Amazing!!
I lived in McMinnville when the Aviation
Museum was built. It was a big thrill when the Spruce Goose was reassembled and we could see it. Most of my family has seen it too.
Great video as ever and it's good that you acknowledge the contribution of the GBR towards the war effort. Thank goodness I am too young to have experienced this - but you are adding documentary to our history. Thank you
I saw the H4 a few years back at evergreen, the cutaway Wasp engine next to the H4 is really neat. I went there to see the SR-71 and was blown away with the whole collection and curation at evergreen. Well worth the trip.
A dude with a microphone and a RUclips account calls out one of pinnacle achievements of the aviator himself "a failure". The aircraft was revolutionary in ways you couldn't describe it to the armchair commando types. This a aircraft demonstrated many concepts that were unproven at the time and opened the skies to the behemoth airliners of today. I saw this majestic beast as it sat in a hanger in Long Beach, CA and its sheer size and sleek design took my breath away. Howard Hughes was way ahead of his time, and so was the Hercules.
Not to mention that 100% of produced H-4's exist today. Somehow, never got to see it when I lived in L.A. But did see it at Evergreen in '08. For true fans, it certainly is a more positive "ship of dreams" than the Titanic.
Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, but I personally wouldn’t call anyones gigantic, painstaking, time consuming effort a ‘failure’. That’s quite disrespectful to anyone’s effort and time.
not only did i get to see it and walk around inside last year, when i was at the Evergreen Air and Space Museum, they were bringing in an F-117 through the parking lot and into the building. so freaking cool.
That camera shot at 21:18 with the setting sun shining through the formerly Jumbo Jet Turbofan engines is amazing! Also Notice the 747 windshields used for the cockpit of the aircraft with the largest wingspan ever to be built.
Thank you mentour pilot for these very educated and well crafted videos that are delivered with skilful presentation. It's kind of refreshing to see you tell a story in a more homely setting.
Yes, I not only took a detailed tour of the Hercules 4, while it was still in Long Beach, my step father actually worked on the center wing section of it. If you ever get a chance to see it in person, you'll be amazed at just how huge it is.
19:42 That custom hangar with the engines poking out is quite the thing.
Thank you, Petter, for this absolutely fantastic narrartion. Wasn't aware of all the intricacies that affected this project.
I went to see it on my trip to Portland, that thing was amazing seeing it up close! Really breathe taking and over all a really amazing experience!
I enjoyed your video on the Spruce Goose. I did see the Spruce Goose in California, it was probably back in mid to late late '90s. I also read a book on Howard and I happen to be in Las Vegas in 74 while he was still living at the Desert Inn, however I didn't realize he was even there until many years later after reading his book.. Your videos are always fantastic and informative. I enjoy them every week.
I've been to the Evergreen Aviation Museum and been in it. It had a DC-3 tucked under one wing and an SR-71 under the other. It's huge.
If you're even in Oregon, the museum the Spruce Goose is at is amazing!
So much Mercury, Gemini, Apollo space stuff there also.
Really worth stopping by!
I've seen and sat in the PIC's seat of the H-4 Hercules, AKA "Spruce Goose" in the Evergreen Aviation Museum. The Civil Air Patrol Pacific Region had an awards dinner under the flying boat's wings. Truly a memorable experience.😊
Petter, you never fail to amaze; here, after a long and successful career, maybe two more promotions away a permanent desk, your delight with "aero anomalies" and your desire to "go there do that" still shines brightly in you. Although a different path, I also got and fulfilled a career at something I really liked even to the end; too many folks never get to that point. Thank you for the trip through one of HH's many handkerchief drawers. He was indeed a very complex man and we many never know all of it.
My father worked for us Aircraft. He was employee number 32 or 33. He graduated from Carnegie Tech as a Aircraft structural engineer. He had numerous involvements with Howard himself, including related to the Spruce goose, the lead engineer for the structural design of the fuselage. he also was the Hughes representative at Fairchild when they built the wings and tail section of the twin engine recon aircraft. He taught Howard structural engineering one night in Howards kitchen, and said that it was scary how fast he picked up the ideas. After that overnight session, you couldn’t pull any wool over his eyes on structural design.
My mother was the secretary for the production manager to Hughes Aircraft . Howard paid for their honeymoon when, almost without any warning, he sent five people to do the design for the flying boxcar for another company. When my father was in New York working on the reconnaissance job, my mother couldn’t get to New York from LA because she had two cats. Hughes put her, the cats and a servant on a i’m a railroad carriage.
He had numerous other interactions with Hughes until he finally resigned about three months before World War II ended. To do that he had to get permission from Hughes to resign and Hughes flow him from New York to LA and put him up with the cottages at the I forget the name of it restaurant hotel in Hollywood.
Much more