It would have had a lot of issues. Like the Spruce Goose, it was big.
"Spruce Goose" was "doomed" to fail from the outset ... so i have read.
Easy for me to say with 80 years of arm-chair, Friday morning quarterbacking, but still. Below is a pretty good AI scrape of the digital universe. It lines up what i understood, probably because its all the stuff I have read
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All that going wrong for it, nearly 1/2 billion $ 2024 dollars, five years, to built one, that plane was an epic technical fail ... and it was only 50% the size of this Japanese concept but weighed 75% (300 tons vs 460 tons) as much.
But it did 'fly". A little bit (sixty feet). 3 min. vid if anyone needs a refresher from 1947.
Google AI Overview
The "Spruce Goose," officially known as the
H-4 Hercules, was a large flying boat designed and built by
Howard Hughes.
Despite its successful, albeit brief, maiden flight, it never went into production or saw further operational use, leading to its reputation as a failure. The reasons for this failure are multifaceted, including the end of World War II, high costs, and the aircraft's inherent limitations.
Here's a more detailed breakdown:
1. The End of World War II and Changing Needs:
- The H-4 was originally designed to transport troops and cargo across the Atlantic during World War II, when German U-boats were sinking Allied shipping.
- By the time the aircraft was completed, the war had ended, and the need for such a large, long-range seaplane diminished.
- The emergence of jet aircraft and the proliferation of airports further rendered the H-4 obsolete for commercial or military transport.
2. High Costs and Delays:
- The H-4 project was incredibly expensive, consuming vast amounts of public money and Hughes's personal fortune.
- Construction was plagued by delays, partly due to Hughes's perfectionism and the challenges of working with wood during wartime material shortages.
- The sheer scale of the project and the cost overruns led to intense scrutiny from Congress and a senate hearing investigating the project.
3. Structural Limitations and Design Issues:
- While the H-4 was constructed primarily from wood (birch, not spruce) due to wartime metal shortages, its massive size and weight made it a challenge to fly.
- One of Hughes's mechanics noted that the tail may not have been beefed up enough, and the aircraft was underpowered.
- The aircraft's low altitude flight profile, coupled with its size and weight, would have made it vulnerable to turbulence and storms.
4. Hughes's Obsession and Perfectionism:
- Hughes's personal involvement and perfectionist tendencies contributed to the project's delays and escalating costs.
- He was reportedly more interested in proving the technical feasibility of the aircraft than in its practicality or commercial viability.
- The one successful flight was more of a symbolic demonstration of Hughes's engineering prowess than a genuine operational test.
In essence, the Spruce Goose's failure wasn't due to a single catastrophic event, but rather a combination of factors including changing wartime priorities, exorbitant costs, design limitations, and Hughes's personal approach to the project.
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