The Hughes H-4 Hercules, originally built as a transport plane, during the war, never achieved that as it was only flown one time and never flown again. Designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft Company, the Hercules H4 is a physical display of humanity’s attempt to defeat the skies.
The Hercules H4 was the largest wooden plane constructed, the idea was birthed by Henry Keiser, a magnate, and shipbuilder. He shared these ideas with Howard Hughes who then decided to help them come to reality despite the material restrictions enforced by the government. Hughes built a boat so big it was six times the size of any aircraft of its type.
Although intended as a flight ship for the war, it was however not completed in time to be used and was built with wood due to wartime restrictions on the use of aluminium. As a result, it was nicknamed Spruce Goose and on November 2, 1947, made its brief flight after which it never had another produced.
Designed to convey a weight of 68,000 kg, 750 fully equipped troops or two 30-ton M4 Sherman tanks. The contract was issued in 1942 as a developmental contract. The design and plan included seven configurations, these include; twin-hull and single-hull designs with combinations of four, six, and eight wing-mounted engines. The construction of the Hercules H4 began 16 months after the contract development.
It consisted of a single hull, eight radial engines, a single vertical tail, fixed wing tip floats, and full cantilever wing and tail surfaces. Its entire airframe and surface structures were made up of laminated wood and all primary control surfaces, asides from the wings were fabric covered. The hull had in it a flight deck for the operating crew and a large cargo hold. A circular stairway linked the two chambers. The watertight bulkheads which divided the fuel bays were located below the cargo hold.
With its mighty look, it weighed in at 300,000 pounds, and with a wingspan of 320 feet, the plane was the largest flying machine ever built. The nickname from the press angered Hughes as he felt it was an insult to his engineering genius.
The Hercules H4 aircraft to date is in good condition upon its exhibition to the public in Long Beach, California between 1980 till 1992. At the moment it is up on display at the Evergreen aviation & space museum in McMinnville, Oregon, United States.
