Quote:
Originally Posted by TMSteele
After Kaiser, the aluminum manufacturer withdrew from the project and a Senate hearing on August 6, 1947 (the first of a series of appearances inquiring about questionable ethics), Hughes moved The Spruce Goose to Los Alamitos in Nov to test drive his creation.
Unfortunately, Marina Del Rey was an inadequate port because it was not begun to be built until 1954.
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True, but even if Marina Del Rey existed in the 1940s (it didn't) it would have been inadequate. The Goose needed a few miles of taxi room to accelerate slowly & lift off from the water. Only the Harbor area inside the breakwater provided the length needed for safe testing. Even then, the thing barely lifted off, and shook like hell so it was promptly set down, never to fly again. Imagine trying to lift off with a few hundred troops and/or several tanks inside (it was planned as a troop/heavy equipment transport in the war). The thought was that a transport that flew could avoid the danger of U-Boat attacks that ship transports faced. It was slow and possibly underpowered (even with 8 engines) and possibly structurally questionable, at least at full planned load. Amazing that the thing ever became a tourist attraction, for a few years anyway. It was obsolete the day it tried to fly.