The Book of Massively Epic Engineering Disasters: 33 Thrilling Experiments Based on History's Greatest Blunders by Sean Connolly
Author:Sean Connolly [Connolly, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science, Childrens, History, Engineering, Disasters, Safety, Non-Fiction
ISBN: 9781523501953
Google: g2dCDgAAQBAJ
Amazon: B06XDXZYQ1
Goodreads: 36874195
Publisher: Workman Publishing
Published: 2017-09-04T23:00:00+00:00
If ever there was a story of extremes, it’s that of the H-4 Hercules aircraft, known as the “Spruce Goose.” Where do we start? Well, it was bigger than any aircraft made before it, and it still holds the record for the widest wingspan. It took years to design and build. The plane was the brainchild of Howard Hughes, one of the world’s most eccentric billionaires.
Despite delays, grumbling about taxpayers’ money, and the enormous scale of the project, the plane was finally finished. Okay, it was more than two years after World War II ended, and the plane was meant to transport soldiers and tanks across the Atlantic Ocean. But on November 2, 1947, the Spruce Goose floated out onto a Californian harbor, revved up its engines, picked up speed, and left the ground. It climbed to a height of 70 feet, did a one-mile circuit over Long Beach harbor, and then landed.
That was it—the single flight of the Spruce Goose. Never again would it leave its climate-controlled hangar, at a jumbo-size cost to Hughes of $1 million a year (more than $10 million in today’s dollars). Was it the most expensive toy ever made, or an example of the world not recognizing a genius at work?
What Went Wrong?
Once the United States entered World War II in late 1941, the military needed to send thousands of troops and thousands of tons of equipment across the Atlantic Ocean. But crossing the Atlantic was no easy matter:
Ships were easy targets for German submarines, or U-boats, as they were called. Congress considered an alternative—building huge planes to fly men and materials to Europe in “flying boats” able to take off and land on water rather than on normal runways. And they’d need to carry a load of 35 tons—that’s 70,000 pounds!
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