In Long Beach, California, the Hughes H-4 Hercules, famously known as the "Spruce Goose," is a massive seaplane that once held the title of the world's largest airplane. Despite its impressive size, it only flew once in its history. The aircraft, with a wingspan of about 97.5 meters, was surpassed in 2019 by the Stratolaunch, which has a wingspan of 115 meters. The Hughes H-4 Hercules was developed during World War II in response to the sinking of American cargo ships by German submarines. The project was led by industrialist Henry Kaiser and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes, but Kaiser eventually stepped away, while Hughes continued to push the project forward. Contrary to its nickname, the plane was not made of spruce; instead, it used birch plywood due to wartime shortages of metal materials like aluminum. On November 2, 1947, Howard Hughes piloted the Spruce Goose for a brief public demonstration flight. The flight lasted about a minute, covering approximately 1.6 kilometers at a low altitude of 21 meters. Some accounts suggest the flight was even shorter, lasting around 26 seconds. This brief flight used the ground effect, a phenomenon where air is compressed between the wings and the ground, creating extra lift at very low altitudes. While the flight quieted critics who had called the project a waste of money, the need for such a large aircraft had already faded with the end of World War II two years earlier. Without continued funding, the aircraft was never built again, and no mass production followed. For nearly 30 years, the Spruce Goose remained in a climate-controlled hangar in Long Beach, maintained by a dedicated team of engineers and technicians until Hughes' death in 1976. After that, the aircraft was largely out of public view for several decades before being displayed in a massive dome near the Queen Mary ocean liner in Long Beach, starting in 1980. Ownership eventually passed to the Aero Club of Southern California, which partnered with the Walt Disney Company for the display. When the dome's lease expired in the early 1990s, the aircraft was moved to Oregon, a journey that took over 138 days and involved barge, train, and truck transport over 1,055 miles. It has been on display at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, since 2001, alongside over 130 other aircraft, including a B-17 Flying Fortress and an SR-71 Blackbird. The Hughes H-4 Hercules is a striking reminder of an ambitious engineering feat that ultimately failed commercially. Its massive wingspan allows six other aircraft to fit under one of its wings, emphasizing its colossal size. While the Stratolaunch, which holds the current record for the largest wingspan, serves a different purpose—launching rockets rather than carrying passengers—the Spruce Goose remains a symbol of the era’s technological ambition and the challenges of turning such vision into practical success.