Hughes H-4 Hercules
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The Hughes H-4 Hercules ("Spruce Goose") is an aircraft designed and built by Howard Hughes's Hughes Aircraft company. Its first and only flight was in 1947. Hughes himself detested the nickname "Spruce Goose". The nickname arose as a way of mocking the Hercules project due to Hughes' alleged misuse of government funding to build the aircraft. The Hercules is the largest flying boat, and still holds the record for the largest wingspan of any aircraft ever. Only one was ever built.
Due to wartime restrictions on the availability of metals, the H-4 was built almost entirely of laminated birch, not spruce as its nickname suggests. The aircraft was a marvel in its time. It married a soon-to-be outdated technology — flying boats — to a massive airframe that required some truly ingenious engineering innovations.
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[edit] History
In 1942, the U.S. Department of War was faced with the need to transport war matériel and personnel to Britain. Allied shipping in the Atlantic Ocean was suffering heavy losses to German U-boats, so a requirement was issued for an aircraft that could cross the Atlantic with a large payload.
The aircraft was the brainchild of Henry J. Kaiser, who directed the Liberty ships program. He teamed with aircraft designer Howard Hughes to create what would become the largest aircraft built or even seriously contemplated at that time. When completed, it would be capable of carrying 750 fully-equipped troops or two M4 Sherman tanks.
To conserve metal for the war effort, it would be built mostly of wood: hence the Spruce Goose moniker. It was also referred to as the Flying Lumberyard by critics who believed an aircraft of its size simply could not fly.
Development dragged on and was not completed until well after the war was over. In 1947, Howard Hughes was called to testify before the Senate War Investigating Committee over the usage of government funds for the aircraft, as Congress was eliminating war-era spending to free up Federal funds for domestic projects. Though he encountered skepticism and even hostility from the committee, Hughes remained unruffled. During a break in the hearings, he returned to California, ostensibly to run taxi tests on the H-4. On November 2 1947, with Howard Hughes at the controls, the Hercules lifted off from the waters off Long Beach, remaining airborne 70 feet (20 m) off the water at a speed of 80 mph (130 km/h) for just under a mile (1.6 km). At this altitude the plane was still experiencing ground effect and some critics believe it lacked the power necessary to truly fly.
Hughes had proved the critics wrong, but the justification for continued spending on the project was gone. Congress killed the Hercules project, and the aircraft never flew again. It was carefully maintained in flying condition until Hughes's death in 1976.
[edit] On screen
The construction and flight of the Hercules was featured in the 2004 Hughes biopic The Aviator. Motion control and remote control models, as well as partial interiors and exteriors, of the aircraft were reproduced for this scene. The motion-control Hercules is on display at the Evergreen Aviation Museum, next to the real Hercules.
[edit] Specifications (H-4)
Performance specifications are projected.
General characteristics<h3>
- Crew:
- Length: 218 ft 8 in (66.65 m)
- Wingspan: 319 ft 11 in (97.54 m)
- Height: 79 ft 4 in (24.18 m)</li>
- Loaded weight: 400,000 lb (180,000 kg)
- Powerplant: 8× Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major radial engines, 3,000 hp (2,240 kW) each</li>
- Cruise speed: 220 mph (320 km/h)
- Range: 3,000 mi (4,800 km)</li>
- Service ceiling: 20,900 ft (6,370 m)
[edit] See also
- Dornier Do X - largest aircraft during the 1930s; German flying boat
- Blohm + Voss BV 238 - heaviest aircraft during World War II
- Ground effect vehicle
- Boeing Pelican
- Ekranoplan - Russian post-WWII ground-effect planes
- List of large aircraft
| Giant aircraft |
|---|
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Airbus A380-800 |
| Proposed projects |
| Cancelled projects |
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Boeing NLA |
[edit] External links
- Evergreen Aviation Museum, McMinnville, Oregon, current home of the plane
- Spruce Goose: Where Is It Now?, history of the plane following Hughes's death
- The Aviator (2004) Biography/drama movie about Howard Hughes with H-4 Hercules Spruce Goose episode.
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