Happy Anniversary to the Spruce Goose. 78 years ago today (Nov. 2nd, 1947) the Hercules made its one and only flight in Long Beach Harbor. Still one of the largest airplanes ever built

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StandardDeluxe3000@reddit

why build such a big plane and fly it only once? the noticed its a deathtrap and wouldsnt survive a second flight?

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viking_cat@reddit

It was intended for WW2 as a way to transport large amounts of cargo quickly across the ocean. This prototype was delivered too late to be of any use, so this program didn’t advance further.

Howard Hughes was being accused by congress of wasting money on something that couldn’t fly. So he did this test to argue it could fly and give him a evidence to defend himself against critics.

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CoffeeFox@reddit

I wish he would have flown it out of ground effect. We may never know if it actually can fly or if it was basically an ekranoplan

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Maxrdt@reddit

We may never know if it actually can fly or if it was basically an ekranoplan

Based on performance calculations we can say it almost definitely would have flown fine and met its performance estimates. If you look at the power to weight ratio and wing loading in comparison to other large flying boats it's well in line.

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GrafZeppelin127@reddit

Even so, it only would have had a useful lift of about 75 tons, and God knows how much of that would have been devoted to fuel and equipment and crew and whatnot in practice. I’m not sure how much it could actually take over 3,000 nautical miles.

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

They knew exactly how much of that was to be devoted to fuel, crew, etc.

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GrafZeppelin127@reddit

Not all real-world aircraft conform to their design specifications, you know. We wouldn’t actually know how the H-4 would perform unless we got actual data from it in practice.

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wggn@reddit

afaik, ekranoplans only work well on calm waters, which is probably not what you will find in the atlantic ocean.

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ctesibius@reddit

Depends on scale. As a rule of thumb, they cruise at an altitude 1/3 of wingspan.

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Nozinger@reddit

That doesn't actually matter at all. The problem is not the plane getting hit by waves or any of that sort. The problem is that uneven ground and even moreso dynamic uneven ground disrupts the air pocket underneath the wings that causes the groundefffect

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CoffeeFox@reddit

That is true, the Atlantic is known for brutal waves and stormy weather.

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mershed_perderders@reddit

Yes, I believe they demonstrated that it would fly in the famous documentary The Rocketeer, featuring the historically accurate *ahem* bodywork of one Jennifer Connelly.

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

I've been studying and thinking about the Hughes Hercules for years, partly research for a model and partly because I'm fascinated by it. Anyway:

On that day, why didn't Hughes fly it farther? Two reasons I think. One, fuel. He'd been tooling around Long Beach harbor for some time and didn't begin with a full fuel load, so I don't think he had enough gas to take it for a proper flight. Two, I watched an interview on the old Tom Snyder late night show when he spoke to one of the engineers who helped design the Herculese and was on board that day. He said the controls (which were boosted hydraulically) were overboosted making the airplane very sensitive to control inputs to the extent it would have been easy to overstress it. He said that after the flight, that was modified to a more reasonable level.

I believe Hughes fully intended to fly it again. It was his baby. Many modifications were performed including the cockpit layout. But of course by then, he and everyone else knew there was no military or commercial future for the Hercules. And his mental health was already declining. The OCD he'd always suffered from was getting worse, and his addiction to painkillers (from his lengthy hospitalization after the XF-11 crash) was coming on strong. I just don't think he could stay focused anymore.

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LurkStatusOn@reddit

“ you can’t build a cargo plane out of wood “

“ hold my beer “

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ItselfSurprised05@reddit

“ you can’t build a cargo plane out of wood “

Hughes' plane wasn't the first. Just the biggest.

Example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss-Wright_C-76_Caravan

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Binspin63@reddit

Don’t forget the DH 98 Mosquito.

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ItselfSurprised05@reddit

Don’t forget the DH 98 Mosquito.

Absolutely! I was talking only about cargo planes.

7,700 Mosquitos built.

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LurkStatusOn@reddit

I did not know of either of those! Thank you kindly

But, the C-76 probably couldn’t hold my beer order and the Waco was a glider . I don’t think either would have much luck crossing the Atlantic. Or delivering a meaningful amount of supplies.

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BathFullOfDucks@reddit

Because it was a con. Hughes used the money to fund the Lockheed Constellation and TWA and when confronted over it by Congress, played up to the audience until they went away.

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M3g4d37h@reddit

FYI, you can still see this plane, it's housed at the McMinnville (OR) Air Museum. My kid lives near there, and I'm planning a nice long motorcycle ride there next summer, will also be stopping in Willow Creek (IYKYK)

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PLS-Surveyor-US@reddit

Yet I see something in your future. Could be a big deal.

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flyin_lynx@reddit

Willow Creek? To see Bigfoot?

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M3g4d37h@reddit

Just to visit the museum - and there's a cool looking place that rents cabins near there as well, so i'll probably stay the night there, since I plan on traversing the back roads.

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peu-peu@reddit

To smoke strong weed and kick it at the river (IYKYK)

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FZ_Milkshake@reddit

She was basically the prototype for a flying cargo ship to supply England even during a full German U-Boat blockade. That is also why she is made of wood, a non war critical resource.

The U-Boat threat was completely dealt with by convoys, better escorts and sonar and the US outproduced everyone else even with all metal aircraft. By the time she was ready to fly, she didn't have a purpose anymore.

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Jazzlike_Climate4189@reddit

And the ministry of ungentlemanly warfare haha

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Barbed_Dildo@reddit

The U-Boat threat was completely dealt with by convoys, better escorts, tactics (big shout out to the WATUs) and sonar

And the fact that the war was over for two years by the point it flew...

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soraksan123@reddit

Hugh's promised it would fly or he would leave the country and never come back. I toured this plane when it was in Long Beach and it was impressive in how big it is up close. I can only compare it to seeing a B-36 up close-

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Poopy_sPaSmS@reddit

Fun fact. It wasn't supposed to actually lift off that day. The firemen in the wings behind the engines flew and didnt know they would. Howard also, once decided he would lift off, intended to make a proper flight. But there was a mechanism locking the rear elevator which meant he was forced to set it down or crash.

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ItselfSurprised05@reddit

Fun fact. It wasn't supposed to actually lift off that day.

Hughes crashed a plane a year earlier during a test flight, due to that same disregard for safety and planning.

On that flight he:

flew longer than USAAF protocol
raised the landing gear (against USAAF protocol)
could not communicate with the chase plane because they got confused about what frequency to use
flew even though one of the propellers' hydraulic fluid reservoirs kept getting drained during engine tests. (It was a propeller problem that brought him down.)
when he first encountered the problem he was 2 miles from the airport and almost 1 mile above ground level. Rather than return to the airport, he flew away from the airport to try to work the problem.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_XF-11#First_prototype_and_Beverly_Hills_crash

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Terrible_Guava9731@reddit

Hughs sounds like a numpty

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Maxrdt@reddit

Being incredibly rich will do that to you. In normal life you're so shielded from consequences or problems or even just things you don't like that the switch to something where your mistakes actually matter becomes a problem.

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postmodest@reddit

Imagine if they'd had ketamine and Twitter in the 40's!

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stlthy1@reddit

He jarred his urine. That's all you need to know.

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Terrible_Guava9731@reddit

You're right, that is all i needed to know. Not only a numpty, but a wrongen too. Patches O'Hoolahan ahh

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_IBentMyWookie_@reddit

I mean he was actually suffering from severe mental illness and the fact that he was constantly in extreme pain and heavily medicated didn't help.

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JesseGarron@reddit

I think I read his injuries from crash(es) horribly exacerbated his compulsions.

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

You are correct.

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sanemaniac@reddit

incredibly rich, mentally ill, heavily medicated... what kind of world were they living in?

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JesseGarron@reddit

He doesn’t have to. He likes the taste.

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Terrible_Guava9731@reddit

And its sterile

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

Not really. Doing that was a symptom of what you need to know.

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ocashmanbrown@reddit

and when they tried to kick him out of the casino, he bought the casino.

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richdrich@reddit

The Elon Musk of his day

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Aggravating_Speed665@reddit

Elon musk wishes he was anywhere near as talented or special as Hughes. I can hardly believe you made this comparison!

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

Ah! Someone who gets it.

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

Nah. Hughes wasn't an idiot, wasn't a sociopath, and he wasn't crazy (mentally ill isn't the same as crazy btw)

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ChemistRemote7182@reddit

I really do expect him to end up eating ice cream in his underwear in a blacked out hotel room. I mean that in a weird way though, not like when I do it.

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Silverado_@reddit

Nah, Hughes would personally fly the very first Crew Dragon, Musk still didn't.

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Pooch76@reddit

TIL: "Numpty" is a British and Scottish slang term for a foolish, silly, or incompetent person.

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TheMusicArchivist@reddit

To add, it's incredibly harmless. Almost an anti-insult. You'd softly chide a child or adult by calling them numpty and they wouldn't take offence. It's more to complete a social interaction where both have to acknowledge that one person made a minor mistake. You'd never shout the word angrily.

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Pooch76@reddit

Thank you! I shall enjoy it then…

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SomeRedPanda@reddit

British and Scottish

Did I miss some significant geological event?

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Terrible_Guava9731@reddit

When it comes to slang, ya

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Terrible_Guava9731@reddit

You're welcome, you're no longer a numpty

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Pooch76@reddit

Touché!

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rirski@reddit

Just arrogant. And we know what arrogance gets you in aviation…

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RBeck@reddit

Crazy guy, at least that time he only put his ass in the plane instead of employees that didn't sign up for a unscheduled flight.

I saw his car in a museum in Las Vegas once, it had a weird air purifying system in it. Wonder if he was a germaphobe.

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

Yes, he was. He was raised by his mother, who was very obsessed with germs and cleanliness. So even as a young man, Hughes suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Add to that, the suffered muliple concussions and other injuries in plane and car accidents.

The turning point came in 1947 when he was nearly killed in the crash of his XF-11 reconnaisance plane. He spent months in the hospital and became addicted to opiate pain killers, and the hospital environment aggravated his germophobia. After that, his decline was steady and relentless.

Later in his life, holed up in Las Vegas, he hired a group of Mormons as caretakers for him and his business affairs. They took from him millions of dollars and made sure he was kept doped up.

What he really needed was competent psychiatric treatment, which didn't really exist when it would have helped him. A very sad life for a gifted man.

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ItselfSurprised05@reddit

Wonder if he was a germaphobe

Oh, yeah, that was a known thing in his later life:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Hughes#Physical_and_mental_decline

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WeeklyAd5357@reddit

Yes he was - later in life he would mostly eat canned peaches he thought were not contaminated with germs

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Poopy_sPaSmS@reddit

Wild!

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

I've never once heard that story. Show your source.

Based on a tv interview by Tom Snyder with on of his engineers who was on board that day: two things. First, the controls were hydraulically boosted. But, the level of boost was too high so the controls were extremeley sensitive, making them vulnerable to over controlling to the point of failure. That was modified after the flight.

Second, Hughes had been taxiing around Long Beach Harbor for quite a while. The airplane was not fully fueled to begin with and by the time he did his short flight, there wasn't enough fuel for a proper test flight.

Some aircraft "fly themselves off the ground" in a level attitude, and that may be the case here. Or, Hughes was too tempted and pulled it off, then put it back down.

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Poopy_sPaSmS@reddit

Show your source.

You'll have to go to McMinnville Oregon for it.

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

Thanks for the helpful response. Did a docent there tell you this, or what?

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ZeBurtReynold@reddit

Trust me, bro

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Top7DASLAMA@reddit

In person it really is huge! Saw it a couple of weeks ago. Surreal experience, especially as a european.

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gussyhomedog@reddit

Such a great museum, crazy that its in bumfuck nowhere oregon yet has the Spruce Goose, an SR-71, a (neglected) Beech Starship, and a CH-37!

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re7swerb@reddit

Once upon a time they were on the short list for a space shuttle too.

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postmodest@reddit

My understanding wa that it's more like they threw a lot of money around to get on the short list, but didn't, and then had to sell stuff?

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ilyana10@reddit

Fun fact: the geodesic dome hangar that housed the plane is still in use next to the Queen Mary in Long Beach. They use it for various things throughout the year, including an ice maze and play area around Christmastime.

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ledfrog@reddit

I don't think they host many events inside the dome anymore since Carnival has expanded its use as their cruise terminal.

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Kerberos42@reddit

Did it not even get out of ground effect?

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Maxrdt@reddit

Not on this flight, no. But it could have.

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

I agree that it could have, and would have flown at least adequately. Hughes and his team knew their business.

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MiamiPower@reddit

Leo played such a good character in The Aviator. Dang I forgot how long that movie was.

The Aviator PG-13 2004 ‧ Adventure/Drama ‧ 2h 49m

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

Yeah. I was really surprised by how goo Leo was as HRH. It also was the first time I realized Leo is tall!

I get a little nit-picky with the aviation sequences in the movie but overall I liked it.

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rckid13@reddit

Go to the Evergreen museum to see it. Sitting in the cockpit of that thing was a really cool experience. The rest of the museum is great too. Especially the space side.

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K_Linkmaster@reddit

They fire it up once a year too. It's a goal.

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

No, those engines haven't been run since the airplane was in its hangar in Long Beach.

I believe Hughes had his people run the engines after the flight but not certain. But they did make extensive modifications after the flight, such as the cockpit layout and flight control system, which suggests to me that Hughes very much wanted to fly it again.

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tdaun@reddit

Fire up the Goose?

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K_Linkmaster@reddit

Can't find any info on it now. I haven't seen it since 2009 so my memory and/or facts could be inaccurate.

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aka_Handbag@reddit

Yours is the first post I’ve ever seen anything about the Goose being fired up since at least Hughes’ death!!

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K_Linkmaster@reddit

Yup. Could be wrong. Could been a dream. Coulda been a fantasy. Coulda been a plan at the time from an employee. No clue. It was a long time ago. I'm probably wrong. It would take a evergreen employee to prove me right.

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Fine_Contest4414@reddit

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Fine_Contest4414@reddit

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roehnin@reddit

M*A*S*H was such a great show

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phaederus@reddit

MAS*H is such a great show - it's aged incredibly well.

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BucketsMcGaughey@reddit

Really? I thought I would check it out a month or two ago, so I watched the pilot. Got about fifteen minutes in before the naked racism put me off persevering.

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roehnin@reddit

MASH has many many shows which lampoon or attack racism and sexism— this was one of the reasons it was so important and one of its draws. By today’s sense it was one of the most “woke”shows ever

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phaederus@reddit

I get where you're coming from, there are certainly some things that in today's context can be hard to stomach, curiously for me I didn't notice any racism but sexism. In context of the times it was actually an incredibly progressive show though, and I think it tackled a lot of sensitive issues (including sexism and racism) with aplomb and great humour.

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The_Autarch@reddit

it's just a symptom of media illiteracy. people think that depicting racism is the same as endorsing racism.

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The_Autarch@reddit

depiction is not the same as endorsement. a show about the korean war is going to either have some racism in it, or it's going to be completely inauthentic.

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roehnin@reddit

It's basically two shows -- a first few seasons of comedy followed by meaningful social commentary.

Unfortunately these days I'm sure it's considered to be "woke" for the same reason it was meaningful in the first place.

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scrandis@reddit

I flew in one of those helicopters when I visited Badlands National Park, South Dakota about 25 years ago. I did not like how I was basically being held inside the copper with no doors by only a lap belt.

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FFFrank@reddit

There was a crash of that helicopter in 1999 that killed the pilot and one passenger in the needles area of Custer State Park. I have to believe this is the same aircraft operating the same route at roughly the same time as you describe!

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scrandis@reddit

Damn, that's unfortunate. I definitely wouldn't fly in one again.

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Derfargin@reddit

Saw it there too great museum. We staying overnight in their parking lot as they allow overnight RV camping with Harvest Hosts. Also liked the fun fact about the plane is that it's made up of mostly birch wood.

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Cel_Drow@reddit

I found the view from the second floor pretty crazy too.

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tylerscott5@reddit

That’s definitely not small

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Occams_ElectricRazor@reddit

"Experimental."

No shit. Thanks, FAA.

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mickcham362@reddit

I was in awe walking around that plane. Then noticed the ME262 next to it and nothing could run my day from then on.

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Fine_Contest4414@reddit

My favorite

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BreadUntoast@reddit

People always give me a weird look when I tell them my favorite plane at Udvar Hazy is the Cessna 180 Skywagon Spirit of Columbus flown by Geraldine Mock to become the first woman to fly around the world. Also the first (and only) plane I actually got to fly!

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phaederus@reddit

Also the first (and only) plane I actually got to fly!

How did you get in the cockpit when it's hanging so high up?

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BreadUntoast@reddit

Jumped really high

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roehnin@reddit

Is this a particularly famous Cub, or merely a type example?

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opotamus_zero@reddit

that Cub writes mysteries under the pen name of J.D. MacGregor

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ThePrussianGrippe@reddit

Do you sell any ponies?

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Flowers_By_Irene_69@reddit

Just take him before his mother eats him.

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Fine_Contest4414@reddit

I didn't see a placard for it, so I'm not sure.

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j3pipercub@reddit

Thankyou

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CouchOtter@reddit

I remember this as one of my first plastic model kits when I was a kid in the 70's.

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Torkin@reddit

As a kid I saw it in long beach. Right next to the QE2

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dutchie1966@reddit

Me too. 1982 probably.

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Altruistic-Good-633@reddit

My favorite part about it is you will be walking around in there and looking at all the other aircraft and forget it's there, it's just so massive your brain thinks the wings are the ceiling or something... Or at least my brain works that way.

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clarinetJWD@reddit

I remember being there as a kid, but barely because of the plane. I was chasing seagulls, and my parents said that if I caught one, I could keep it.

Well, I cornered one thst seemed to be injured and caught it.

They didn't let me keep it...

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SmoreOfBabylon@reddit

There’s an interesting documentary on YT about how they moved the plane from California to Oregon (and how it ended up going to Oregon in the first place): https://youtu.be/ZBPJhRCqXjA?si=OGL9TxVer_uWd6OI

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SilentPontifications@reddit

Peter Dibble is such an awesome and underrated content creator! Especially as a PNW resident, I find pretty much all of his videos to be super interesting.

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diaudioman@reddit

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Unexpected_Cheddar-@reddit

I gotta get there! I was in Tillamook a few years ago, but we were doing the coast drive and I got vetoed…we’d already done the Boeing museum in Seattle.

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K_Linkmaster@reddit

Sorry man, you got screwed. It was a destination on my road trip.

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Ypocras@reddit

"How does she sound Odie?"

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salvatore813@reddit

sounds good.

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kroghman@reddit

It’s called the Hercules!

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HeyThereItsJesus@reddit

And it will fly Goddamn it!

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Aggravating_Speed665@reddit

Zippers.

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salvatore813@reddit

no, buttons.

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Due-Fix9058@reddit

To put it into perspective - the Hughes H-4 has 320 ft wingspan, the already monstrous Convair B-36 (first flight 1946) has 230 ft wingspan.
For reference the An-225 has 290 ft wingspan, a Boeing 747 has 195 ft.

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CoffeeFox@reddit

By wingspan, it was the largest plane in the world until 2016

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pastpapers4u@reddit

777x?

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HB_Stratos@reddit

Scaled Composites Stratolaunch Roc

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CoffeeFox@reddit

Yep, which is a dual fuselage so it's really a different category of aircraft anyway.

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jay_in_the_pnw@reddit

Yep, which is a dual fuselage so it's really a different category of aircraft anyway.

Ah! Why couldn't you have written this as

Yep, which is a dual fuselage so it's really a different kind of aircraft altogether.

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Intelligent_Radish15@reddit

Ok? But why? Honest question, is there a reason to say it that way?

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jay_in_the_pnw@reddit

Oh! I'm so glad you asked!

It's a running gag in the 1980 movie Airplane!

https://youtu.be/0wxp-NxJny8?t=64

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Intelligent_Radish15@reddit

lol. One of my favorite movies of all time. Yet it still went over my head.

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Dialogical@reddit

Sounds pretty serious. You should probably get yourself to a hospital.

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AOC_rocks@reddit

Yep, which is a dual fuselage so it's really a different category of aircraft anyway.

Surely you could have written this as

dual fuselage; different category.

Or maybe

Different category: dual fuselage.

Or maybe

We’ll maybe the comparison be between both of them would be a false comparison. The Spruce goose of course, only has one hull. And of course it’s made out of spruce. The comparison aircraft, the beautiful is a dual hulled aircraft, so even though the wingspan might be a little bit longer the comparison might not be accurate.

/s

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mhessrrt@reddit

Surely you can't be serious!

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jawanda@reddit

I am serious and don't call me Shirley.

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rgshrey@reddit

It's really a different kind of aircraft.

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cjd3@reddit

It’s a different kind of aircraft.

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grabtharsmallet@reddit

A good friend is one of the engineers. She's a big girl, big enough that the scale is tricky.

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qpHEVDBVNGERqp@reddit

Friend or the engineer?

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grabtharsmallet@reddit

The plane

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boredatwork8866@reddit

You almost lost a good friend

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throwawayaccyaboi223@reddit

Jesus, even wider than the AN-225?!

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nuboots@reddit

I'm just going to take a moment to say, I freakin' love seaplanes.

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7stroke@reddit

They hauled Hughes in front of Congress for this fiasco. He basically had to fly it once, or else face some serious legal repercussions. I like to imagine a world where this kind of thing happens to Elon. Put him in the backseat of a Tesla and turn on FSD for a 500-mile road trip.

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WoodI-or-WoodntI@reddit

I've always wondered if that beast of a plane, with engines that look too small for its size could fly outside of the ground effect. At any altitude, I bet it would struggle.

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panda_ammonium@reddit

What about the Spruce Moose??

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Forward-Bank8412@reddit

Oh my gosh! From Tale Spin?

That’s my first thought whenever I hear mention of the Spruce Goose! But I was like, “that’s way too out-of-left-field for this sub.”

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Daily_Heroin_User@reddit

That flying lumberyard

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HuhWatWHoWhy@reddit

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Regular_Barnacle_756@reddit

I read a book about Howard Hughes and it mentioned this plane. A short time later at a pub quiz they asked what was the name of this plane. They must have thought I was a genius.

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Aggravating-Peak2639@reddit

I said…get…in.

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dexter311@reddit

I think you're mistaken... this plane is the Spruce MOOSE

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DownWithTheSyndrme@reddit

*Hop in.

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555--FILK@reddit

Boy I hope someone got fired for that blunder

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IanCrapReport@reddit

"Model!?"

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Specialist_Radish348@reddit

I said...hop in.

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dhoror@reddit

arsenal-brid..

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Livid-Ratio9163@reddit

like an American ekranoplan 🫦😍

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ThirtyMileSniper@reddit

Query, did it actually get to any altitude or was it purely flying on ground effect?

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Aggressive-Muffin157@reddit

The engines look so small, not enough thrust?

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generictroglodytic@reddit

The airframe was simply way too heavy. It could take off but a long duration flight needed much more testing.

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cchaven1965@reddit

Those engines are huge and rated at about 3,000 HP each. If I recall correctly the wing is roughly 11 feet thick at the thickest portion.

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CostOk4916@reddit

At the risk of asking a dumb question, why build it?

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Ichthius@reddit

To get materials to Europe for ww2 because the U boats were sinking everything. The situation changed and the war ended. It was obsolete before they could produce it.

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generictroglodytic@reddit

It was for WW2 like if the war kept going these could be used to ferry lots of troops over the ocean rather than rely on ships. Or transporting cargo.

There were smaller flying boats like the Martin Mars and even of those only a few were built.

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DecisionFit2116@reddit

I've been infatuated with the plane and Howard ever since I was a young boy

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DependentEchidna87@reddit

Did she just not have enough thrust ?

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Thin-Ebb-9534@reddit

Hughes was a total nut job, but his genius was evident.

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Ornery_Year_9870@reddit

Magnificent. Absolutely beautiful.

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SteelSpineCloud@reddit

are there pieces of this aircraft left around somewhere? Other than photos and film?

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texan01@reddit

It’s in Everett WA last I heard. The whole thing is still around

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Jessie_C_2646@reddit

McMinnville Oregon. I don't think that the museum in Everett is large enough to hold it.

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DoubleTheGarlic@reddit

My alma mater town.

Go to Bistro Maison if you're ever in the area. Hit Joel Palmer on the way back towards Portland.

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CaptainCold_999@reddit

Hop in!

But sir that's just a -

*cocks revolver* I said: hop. in.

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anteup@reddit

Is that covered with doped fabric or something else?

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fernsie@reddit

I said hop in!

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Haldron-44@reddit

I'm still in the camp of questioning whether this was a true "flight" or ground effect. Not that I don't think it is cool AF, just that it would put it in the category of ecronoplan rather than true aircraft. Basing this mostly off the MSFS model taking off from Victoria and still not being able to clear Rainier. Maybe somebody who modeled it in XPlane had better luck...

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Sidney_Godsby@reddit

Bring me the milk

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ocashmanbrown@reddit

I think the Wright Flyer's flight was longer in distance than that was.

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Slight_Bed_2241@reddit

The Hercules

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comfortably_nuumb@reddit

It's the Birch Bitch! 😠

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10sameold@reddit

The Oak Bloke

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Sempervirens47@reddit

The Teak Freak!

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Go_Loud762@reddit

Uh,... pine swine?

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0xxman@reddit

The... mahogany monstrosity?

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MontasJinx@reddit

The Redwood Rocket!

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Middleage_dad@reddit

The Orange…. Fuck.

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Jessie_C_2646@reddit

Orange Overcast was right there.

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waxlez2@reddit

The Birch Birb

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i_love_pencils@reddit

The Maple Monstrosity

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FV40301@reddit

The Ash Trash...?

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guitar_angel@reddit

It's impossible to really judge the size of this think until you're standing right next to / underneath it! I went to the Evergreen A&S museum back in August, and this thing is just massive. I've been on C-5s and C-17s before but this thing just blows me away wondering how it actutally flew (or if it could "fully" could have if given additional opportunities).

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