Thursday, November 2, 2006

The Hughes H-4 Hercules made it's one and only flight, getting about 70 feet above sea level for a little less than a mile on this day in 1947. The aircraft, more commonly known by it's derisive nickname, The Spruce Goose (as it was largely constructed out of wood), was piloted by it's creator, Howard Hughes. Although essentially a successful test flight, the government cut their funding for the project, and the wooden aircraft would never fly again.