Hughes Flying Boat H-4 (HK-1) Hercules (“Spruce Goose”)

Introduction - Move to Oregon - Description

Aircraft Description
The Hughes Flying Boat is a cargo-type seaplane designed to transport men and materials over long distances. This aircraft is of a single hull, eight-engine design, with a single vertical tail, fixed wing-tip floats, and full cantilever wing and tail surfaces. The entire airframe and surface structures are composed of laminated wood (primarily birch). All primary control surfaces except the flaps are fabric covered. The hull contains two areas: a flight deck for the operating crew and a large cargo deck. A circular stairway provides access between the two decks. Below the cargo deck are fuel bays divided by watertight bulkheads.

Notable Hughes Flying Boat Facts:

Cargo Aircraft Prototype
Largest wingspan: 319 feet, 11 inches with a wing area that covers 11,430 square feet
Features full cantilever wing and tail surfaces
Tallest aircraft: 79 feet, 3 3/8 inches
Length: 218 fee 6 ¼ inches
Largest seaplane
Largest wooden aircraft: the entire airframe is composed of laminated wood
Primary control surfaces, except the flaps, are fabric-covered
Power: Eight Pratt & Whitney R-4360, 3,000 horsepower engines
Propellers: Eight, 17 feet, 2 inch diameter
Weight, Empty: 300,000 pounds
Weight, Loaded: 400,000 pounds (maximum take-off weight)

Capacity: 750 troops or two Sherman tanks
Normal Crew: 18
First And Only Flight: November 2, 1947
The most reciprocating horsepower ever installed in an aircraft

Estimated Performance:

Cruise Speed: 141 to 150 miles per hour at 5,000 feet
Top Speed: 227 to 231 miles per hour at 5,000 feet
Range: 2,975 miles with 12,500 gallons of fuel

Who is Evergreen International Aviation?
How did they become involved in the restoration, preservation, and display of historic aircraft?

In 1960, thirty-year old Delford M. "Del' Smith, a graduate of the University of Washington and an Air Force veteran, launched Evergreen Helicopters with a vision of providing helicopters for humanitarian missions, fire fighting, agriculture, and industry. Evergreen began operations with two Hiller 12E’s. Today, Evergreen is a world leader in helicopter technology and its applications, employing more than 100 rotary-wing aircraft for agriculture, construction, forestry management, health, logging, petroleum and utilities. The heavy lift division of the helicopter group has performed miracles in powerline construction and in specialized support for other construction and industrial projects.

In the 1970's, the United Nations World Health Organization contracted with Evergreen to provide helicopters, spray systems, crews and ground support to fight blindness in seven African countries where blackfly-infested riverways had caused residents misery for generations. The African blackfly carries the parasitic filarial nematode, which causes blindness and other problems, even death, if contracted. Through this program, which Evergreen pioneered and launched, more than 20 million people have been protected from the black fly allowing them to return to the fertile areas of Africa. The World Health Organization has identified these operations as the most successful health mission ever conducted.

Evergreen Helicopters, Inc. was the first of many synergistic companies working together under Evergreen International Aviation. These companies include Evergreen International Airlines, Inc.; Evergreen Air Center, Inc. (located on a 2,080-acre airpark in the Sonoran Desert near Tucson, Arizona); Evergreen Aircraft Sales & Leasing Company, Inc.; Evergreen Aviation Ground Logistics Enterprises, Inc. (EAGLE); and Evergreen Agricultural Enterprises, Inc.

Under the direction of founder and owner Delford M. Smith, the Evergreen group has achieved an averaged growth rate of forty-five percent for each year of the past twenty years. A skilled pilot, a brilliant businessman and a dedicated humanitarian, Del Smith has parlayed a lifelong love of aviation into a thriving international business. Now this same love of aviation and its history has led to the development of a world-class aviation museum, the Evergreen Aviation Museum and the Captain Michael King Smith Educational Institute. The Evergreen collection of historic aircraft restored to flying condition is already one of the very best in the country. Particularly strong in warbirds, the aircraft complement the World War II era of the Hughes Flying Boat.

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