The HK-1 Hughes Flying Boat, Spruce Goose

The Hughes Flying Boat was to be the biggest airplane ever built and probably the most prodigious aviation project of all time. Only the courage and solitary dedication of Howard Hughes and his small development group caused this project to advance what a disgruntled U.S. Senator dubbed the "flying lumber yard," resulting in its historic flight in November 1947.

Now commonly tagged the "Spruce Goose," this aircraft has endured to become a popular cultural artifact, telling a remarkable story of sacrifice, determination, and technological development. The HK-l, still the biggest aircraft ever built, was decades ahead of its time in the early 1940s. It revolutionized jumbo flying bodies and large lift capability, shaping modern flight.

Along the way, the Flying Boat development encountered and dealt with tremendous design and engineering problems, from the testing of new concepts for large-scale hulls and flying control surfaces, to the incorporation of complex power boost systems that gave the pilot the power of 100 men in controlling this Hercules.

Engineers hung eight of the most powerful engines available, and deigned a mammoth fuel storage and supply system to allow the long over the water flights. Mr. Hughes and his team accomplished all of this working with "non-essential" materials, building a wood aircraft, mostly birch not spruce, that even many of his colleagues dismissed as impossible. All of this was done within the impractical schedule of wartime.

On November 2, 1947, Howard Hughes and a small engineering crew fired up the R-4360s for taxi tests and thrilled thousands of on-lookers with an unannounced flight. With Howard Hughes at the controls, the Flying Boat lifted 70 feet off the water, and flew one mile in less than a minute at a top speed of 80 miles per hour before making a perfect landing.

This trial was simple vindication from the detractors of the program and it is now looked back upon as a great moment in flight history. The popular Spruce Goose is now appropriately regarded as a true American icon.

Following its short flight it was placed in storage, never to fly again. After Howard Hughes folded his wings (died) the flying boat remained in storage until 1980. From 1982 to 1992 the flying boat was on display in Long Beach, California under the operation of the Aero Club of Southern California. It was housed in a very large purpose-built structure alongside the ocean liner Queen Mary, and was an exciting tourist attraction.

For some reason, probably economics, the Aero Club began proceedings to dispose of the airplane. Among the suggestions offered for disposition was to scrap it. Fortunately that did not happen, and the airplane was sold to Evergreen in 1992. Disassembly began on August 10, 1992 and was completed September 20, 1992. Plans called for disassembly into 38 separate elements. These elements were shipped to Oregon by land and sea. The disassembly was carefully planned and documented to ensure accurate reassembly for its planned display in the Michael King Smith Evergreen Aviation Educational Center.

After disassembly the passage from California to Oregon took several weeks. Propellers, engines, and smaller parts were crated and shipped by overland transport. The rudder, ailerons, elevators, flaps, horizontal stabilizers, fuselage, wings and tail section, much too large for overland passage, sailed by barge to Portland. Leaving the Port of Long Beach harbor on October 13th the Flying Boat barge sailed north through the Pacific Ocean, then up the Columbia and Willamette rivers to Portland in less than five days. The aircraft sections, the longest and highest ever to move through the Oregon City locks, were then barged to a discharge point near the Yamhill river. From there the structures were placed on very large special transport trailers for the final distance to McMinnville.

The Flying Boat is in its temporary weather-proof facility where it awaits it final home in the museum. The $20,000,000 (US) museum structure is well along in construction. The concrete floor has been completed and is ready to receive the fuselage of the "Spruce Goose." Surrounding roof supporting structures have been completed and the roof is in place. The walls of the museum will be completed after the fuselage has been moved inside. While the museum is under construction refurbishment and restoration of the airplane components is ongoing. First, the fuselage will be put in place, then the other components will be installed. It is hoped that the museum will be dedicated in January or February 2001. The collection of warbirds and antique airplanes totals near forty, many flyable. The museum is located across a main highway from the McMinnville airport. Modifications to the highway must be made to allow access to the airport from the museum. Several of the men who worked on the "Spruce Goose" during its manufacture, and a couple who were present when it flew, were part of the disassembly team. They are now assisting in its reassembly.

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Captain Michael King Smith Evergreen Aviation Educational Center

Many thanks go to my friend Stan Richardson, Jr from Oregon, and Gary M. Thompson, Executive Director at the Evergreen Aviation Institute, for their help in creating this page.