Charles’ 
Slide of the Week: August 22nd, 2008
Spruce Goose, Long Beach, CA, 1947
Amid much fanfare and speculation that it would never fly, the biggest airplane ever built finally emerges to show off for the whole world to see.
This slide was taken either just before or after its brief, but meaningful, maiden voyage into flight on November 2, 1947; the only one it would ever take. The flying cargo ship gracefully flew about one mile at an altitude just above sea level. It had to fly, because if it didn’t the government would’ve never paid the bill. Howard Hughes built the Spruce Goose for the US government to carry troops and supplies back and forth to Europe during World War II, but by the time the plane was finished the war was over. Oh well.
Immediately following this historic short flight the monster airplane was mothballed in a giant hanger hidden from the public and shrouded in secrecy until Hughes died in April 1976.
I had the privilege of seeing the freak flying machine while it was finally on display between 1980 and 1990 in a giant dome next door to the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. Of course, I was flabbergasted! It’s HUGE!
A few weeks ago I saw it again, this time at its new home, the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. It radically dwarfs every other plane on display. I was quite surprised when I walked into the belly of the beast and was greeted by several dozen 1940s vintage beach balls in various states of inflation piled on the fuselage floor. The docent explained that hundreds of these beautiful beach balls were discovered hidden and forgotten in the wings while it was being dismantled for the tedious trek from Long Beach to Oregon. Apparently, the mysterious Mr. Hughes ordered the frolicy flotation devices placed in the wing floats and all of the empty spaces in the fuselage so the darn plane wouldn’t’ sink if it crashed!
Yes, beach balls were going keep the world’s biggest plane from sinking!
Here’s to the Evergreen Aviation Museum Howard Hughes and his Spruce Goose , beach balls and YOU!
Charles Phoenix
Los Angeles
August 2008
12 Comments on “Spruce Goose, Long Beach, CA, 1947”
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August 22nd, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I thought I had heard all the stories on the Spruce Goose - but BEACH BALLS!!!! Hughes was one weird guy…………judy
August 22nd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Hi Charles. Thanks for this beazutiful picture. Like Mr.Hughs and a lot of American people I love plane. I’d like to know this Spruce Goose. The forties and fifties years are unforgetable. Thanks my friend.
August 23rd, 2008 at 10:49 am
kitsch rules!
August 24th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Charles had a great time at your show in Brea on 8/23. Thanks for making me laugh!!! It also brings up all the warm fuzzy feelings from the past, when life was somehow not so serious.
all the best,
Terry
August 25th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Charles, loved the Brea show Saturday night! Loved your suits too. So much fun…….I was telling my friend you need to sell keychains along with your books. I would SO buy a Charles Phoenix keychain! Or a CP floaty pen……
August 26th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Moments after landing my motorized hang glider, an old man walked out of an alley and barked at me, “You the idiot that’s been flying that buzz saw up and down the Strip?!”
I somewhat hesitantly replied, “Yes sir.” and hung my head expecting to get chewed-out.
The old man stared at me for an uncomfortable moment wincing his small eyes. He then smacked his dry lips, then quietly said, “Nice work kid.”
A couple men appeared behind him. I was convinced I was going to jail until one of them approached the old man and said, “Mr. Hughes. We really need to get going sir.”
August 26th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Hi Charles
A reader of my blog turned me onto you…check the blog out I have lots of found photos of brooklyn people, places and things….i look foward to my slide of the week!
Lisanne
August 26th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
My first but not last attendance.
Wonderful show and dialog.
R Yarosh
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:12 pm
I was one of the fellows crawling all over the Goose when it was still in its original Long Beach hanger. The plane and the hanger had to be documented before the hanger was torn down and the plane dragged off. It’s all living black and white and probably nothing that fits with what you do, but if you ever need any pics of the Goose in its original home I’d be happy to whip you up a few. I always look forward to the latest slide.
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Thanks so much for this week’s slide. I just moved to Southern California from Ohio in the fall and I live in Long Beach near the dome where the plane was kept. I’ve been wondering how they moved the plane from Long Beach to Oregon and now I know!
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:14 pm
That brought back memories…. I was born and raised in Long Beach and lived on the west side. Some friends and I ( I was 13) went down and watched Howard Hughes lift it off the water. I never visited the Goose in the dome and have kicked myself ever since it was moved for not going down and signing the log.
September 3rd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Here’s a similar story about Douglas Bader, a WW II pilot who told this story to a meeting of Boy Scouts in London in the 50s. I was one of the Scouts.
He was a national hero because he had lost both legs being shot down and went back to fly again. Despite this apparent heroism, he confessed to us that he had become petrified of being shot down because he couldn’t swim well in his artificial legs (and they were made of quite heavy metal in those days). He thought he had solved the problem in the same way you described Howard Hughes did. Then on a flight over Germany he heard tremendous gunfire and he felt sure he was being shot down again.
It turned out he was not hearing gunshots at all. It was the sound of the ping pong balls he had used to fill up his artificial legs as they exploded due to the lower pressure on the outside at the altitude of a flying plane.