THE
FLYING LUMBERYARD
In this article the author tells an interesting story about the biggest
aircraft ever built. And it was made of wood!
The flying lumberyard, is how a disgruntled US Senator, at the time, referred to the huge flying boat, made of wood, that Howard Hughes built and that became known as the Spruce Goose.
The Spruce Goose is a single hull flying boat and the idea to build the huge aeroplane came from Henry Kaiser, who was the head of one of the largest shipbuilding enterprises at the time. The perception that there was a need for the monstrous aircraft was due to the following facts:
· America was embroiled in World War II.
· The country was geographically far removed from the areas of conflict and had to contend with vast distances in delivering supplies to its fighting men and allies.
· Enemy submarines were sinking supply ships nearly as fast as they could be built.
Kaiser therefore came up with the idea to build a ship that could fly over the danger. To save metal, that was critical to the war effort, it was decided that the aircraft would be made primarily of wood. The entire airframe and the surface structures are therefore composed of laminated wood and, with the exception of the flaps, the primary control surfaces are fabric covered.
As regards the size of the Spruce Goose, the following compares the dimensions of the Spruce Goose with that of the Boeing 747X Stretch, C-5 Galaxy and the C-17 Globemaster III. It must be borne in mind that the dimensions of the Boeing reflected in the following table is that of the 747X Stretch and not that of the 747-400X or 747X, the lastmentioned aircraft being substantially smaller than old Stretch, their big, albeit, younger brother.
747X Stretch
C-5 Galaxy
C17-Globemaster III
Spruce Goose
Wingspan
67.77
67.93
51.76
97.54
Overall length
80.55
75.3
53.00
66.61
Height
19.86
19.84
16.78
24.16
Some further food for thought is the fact that the Spruce Goose was designed to carry up to 750 fully equipped troops, a fact that compares as follows with the high density seating of the Boeing 747X Stretch:
Boeing 747X Stretch 660
Spruce Goose 750
Further perspective about the size of the Spruce Goose comes from considering the fact that,
· with a maximum wing thickness of 3.5 metres, it is possible for a fully grown man to stand erect in the particular area inside the wing;
· that several services can be performed on the
engines while the aircraft is in flight; and
· that the Goose is powered by eight 28 cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-4360 engines rated at 3000 h.p. each, the engines being the largest radial reciprocating engines ever built.
On the 2nd of November 1947 Howard Hughes (at the controls) and his crew fired up the powerful engines of the aeroplane and with a large crew contingent on board, the Spruce Goose became airborne for a short flight. That was the only time that the Spruce Goose flew. In due course the project was scrapped.
The northern migration of the Goose
After the death of Howard Hughes in 1976, the aircraft was acquired by the California Aero Club and it was displayed on the Long Beach, California waterfront. The Disney Corporation subsequently acquired the rights to the lease of the exhibit but in due course decided that the financial returns were unacceptable and eventually Evergreen Aviation International procured the rights for hosting the Spruce Goose in its proposed Air Venture Museum in McMinville, Oregan.
When the Spruce Goose migrated north, unlike its feathery cousins, who migrate by flying, it did so by sailing through the Pacific Ocean, sailing up two rivers and travelling overland. Some of the smaller components were transported overland by truck from California to their destination. After it was dismantled, its dissected sections were shrink wrapped and loaded onto an ocean barge. On 13 October 1992 the tug, Natoma, with the barge in tow, left Long Island California and after sailing north through the pacific ocean and up the Columbia river, reached Portland, Oregon on 18 October, thereby completing the 980 nautical mile journey.
After being welcomed in Portland on 22 October by thousands of fans on the officially proclaimed Spruce Goose day, it was off-loaded for storage at an industrial park in Vancouver in the state of Washington. The reason why the aeroplane was put into storage was that suitable
river levels were required for the up-river journey to McMinnville in Oregon. If the Willamette river level were too high, the wings, contained in steel cradles and standing upright on their leading edges, would not clear bridges. On the other hand, a river level that was too low, would not allow for off-loading of the cargo. After waiting for several months for suitable river levels, the day finally arrived when the aircraft could be sent up-river to an off-load site in Oregon territory, where it started the final and overland leg of approximately 8 miles.
Looking at it from a timber perspective, it is interesting to note that the Spruce Goose, that was constructed of Birch (and not Spruce) found its final home in Oregon Pine country on 27 February 1993.
And that concluded the story of the unique timber bird, Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose.
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