With the 40th Anniversary release today, I could not resist taking the Hughes H-4 (Spruce Goose) for a flight.

Hawaii seemed a nice place to visit..............

I need to land somewhere

PHMK Molokai is close, but I don't have any landing gear. So, just a flypast

It looks a friendly place

The young man looks puzzled. Probably not expecting me

But the lady looks interested

Guess I need to head to the water

This looks ideal

All went well. Time to settle down for the night.

Edited November 11, 20223 yr by paulb

What an amazing plane, Paul. I'm really happy, we got it for MSFS. I have visited it in the late 1980s, when it was displayed in Long Beach in the Dome next to the Queen Mary

Wonderful flight of fancy. Love the dialogue...but I'm not sure if it's the pilot or the Goose talkin'. 🙂

Amazing Paul.  Simply amazing.  I’ve always been fascinated by this plane.

Gorgeous shots! 😉 

6 hours ago, bernd1151 said:

What an amazing plane, Paul. I'm really happy, we got it for MSFS. I have visited it in the late 1980s, when it was displayed in Long Beach in the Dome next to the Queen Mary

It does look big Bernd! It must have been great to see it in real life 🙂.

3 hours ago, John F said:

Wonderful flight of fancy. Love the dialogue...but I'm not sure if it's the pilot or the Goose talkin'. 🙂

LOL! Thanks John 🙂. Just trying to make it interesting!

3 hours ago, Jack_Sawyer said:

Amazing Paul.  Simply amazing.  I’ve always been fascinated by this plane.

Thanks Jack. Me to. Amazing plane - built of wood! 🙂

3 hours ago, Alaska738 said:

Gorgeous shots! 😉 

Many thanks Will 🙂.

On 11/12/2022 at 1:39 AM, Jack_Sawyer said:

Amazing Paul.  Simply amazing.  I’ve always been fascinated by this plane.

I have just been reading about it Jack.

The Spruce Goose - despite its name, almost the whole aircraft is made from birch, specifically Duramold, a wood lamination process that produces strong plywood. The only pieces on the Spruce Goose not made of wood are the engines, electronics, screws, and braces used in the Restoration process.

An excellent story with some great images.

Wonderful first view with the dusk sky colours and all the islands in a line to the horizon.

An interesting fact about the wood and process used to make he plane.

31 minutes ago, VH-KDK said:

An excellent story with some great images.

Wonderful first view with the dusk sky colours and all the islands in a line to the horizon.

An interesting fact about the wood and process used to make he plane.

Many thanks Martyn. Glad that you liked it 🙂.

7 hours ago, paulb said:

I have just been reading about it Jack.

The Spruce Goose - despite its name, almost the whole aircraft is made from birch, specifically Duramold, a wood lamination process that produces strong plywood. The only pieces on the Spruce Goose not made of wood are the engines, electronics, screws, and braces used in the Restoration process.

Birch plywood, I use it occasionally.  It's what we call furniture grade, depending on the final facing on it.  It's very strong but water can make it become delaminated.  With all that wood it would have been twice or more as heavy as if it had been made of aluminum, then it would have flown no problem.

3 hours ago, Jack_Sawyer said:

With all that wood it would have been twice or more as heavy as if it had been made of aluminum, then it would have flown no problem.

I hope my memory doesn't fail me, Jack. But when I visited the plane in Long Beach, someone there told me that during WWII private enterprises such as the Hughes Corp. were not allowed to use aluminum, as it was needed for military plane construction. Hence the use of birch/Duramold.

53 minutes ago, bernd1151 said:

I hope my memory doesn't fail me, Jack. But when I visited the plane in Long Beach, someone there told me that during WWII private enterprises such as the Hughes Corp. were not allowed to use aluminum, as it was needed for military plane construction. Hence the use of birch/Duramold.

Makes sense Bernd.  I didn’t think of that.