The Spruce Goose: An Unexpected Oregon Aviation Icon

Описание: On Nov. 2, 1947, an historic flight took place. It would last less than a minute.

“He surprised everybody and just shifted from taxiing and flying,” said Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum Chief Operating Officer Terry Howell.

Howard Hughes' amphibious wooden plane, the Spruce Goose, took flight over the Pacific.

Hughes and Henry Kaiser were commissioned by the government to build the 8-engine flying ship during World War II. Kaiser later left the project.

On Nov. 2, 1947, the infamous Spruce Goose took off on an historic flight. It would last less than a minute.

Also known as the H-4 Hercules, aviation experts say it was actually made of birch -- much of which came from the Pacific Northwest.

The construction was not without controversy.

“Howard Hughes had been called on the carpet by the Senate, and accusing him of wasting money building this. He was pretty adamant that he was going to make it fly or he was going to leave the country,” Howell said.

While it did fly, the first time would also be the last.

“He got it up to about 70 knots, pulled up, flew it about 25 feet off the water for about 30 seconds, and then landed it and put it back in and never brought it out again,” Howell said.

Following the flight, the eccentric Hughes became more reclusive. The museum where the plane was parked was Disney-owned. The Spruce Goose sat for years until it made its way to the Pacific Northwest.

“They disassembled it and packed it up. And some of it came upon trucks, some of it came upon by barge up the coast,” said Howell.

It was a slow journey on both the Willamette River and Oregon's winding roads used to transport the plane.

Many Oregonians still don't know that it's here. Now it's on display in McMinnville, carefully nestled in the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum.

"It's a football field wide at the wingspan and 200 feet long. So, it's still one of the largest aircraft, even compared to 747s and so on. But it really led to some of the bigger discoveries and moments in aviation after the fact. So, everything from the flight controls to navigation, and so on, a lot of things were brand new to this aircraft that were being essentially prototyped for the scale of this,” Howell said.

Now this amazing piece of aviation history is part of Oregon history.