The Biggest Aircraft You Will Ever See

[Dibbons]

Only flew once.

 

[Tony Tee]

Only flew once.

Very cool plane! Reminds me of the spruce goose. Which also only flew once.

 

[f569]

Was there a purpose for this aircraft?
Was is a test bed for something?
That middle wing section must be stout as hell.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Was there a purpose for this aircraft?

 

[f569]

Very cool. Nice to have money to fund big ideas.
Thanks RC!

 

[slimt]

Thats a whole lot of airplane.

 

[dadsbee]

Burt had some extra carbon fiber laying around and wanted to use it up...

 

[747mopar]

I remember dad taking us to see the Spruce Goose, Pretty impressive but also depressing knowing it only flew once. Wonder what purpose it's supposed to serve?

 

[slimt]

I remember dad taking us to see the Spruce Goose, Pretty impressive but also depressing knowing it only flew once. Wonder what purpose it's supposed to serve?

I think the purpose is just showing off how much money a person has. And how easy it is to just throw away with out money being a issue. Im just amazed at how these big birds can fly.

 

[Photon440]

Was there a purpose for this aircraft?
Was is a test bed for something?
That middle wing section must be stout as hell.

The intended purpose was to have cheaper rocket launches; flying a booster several miles up before it starts the flight into space. It was designed to carry a 220 ton load. Paul Allen (one of the Microsoft founders) was it's champion but after he passed away the company and giant airplane was left without cash or direction.

 

[theman440]

Bigger than the Goose?

 

[Budnicks]

It's cool, but what a damn waste

 

[Mike67]

Was there a purpose for this aircraft?
Was is a test bed for something?
That middle wing section must be stout as hell.

I was thinking the same thing, seems pretty sketchy when landing torsional forces must be incredible if one side touches down before the other.
The thought that came to mind was the P38 design, why wouldnt the tie the tail together like it???

 

[Mike67]

I remember as a kid when we would go to San Antonio we would go to Lackland AFB and watch the B52s take off, what a site! Those wings seemed to go on forever and dropped to the point it looked like they were about to fall off, until they got enough speed for lift. You used to be able to pull up almost next to the runway. That even had a small museum that had several planes and helicopters you could climb in. I believe they had an Xc99 whistle seemed pretty big to a kid.
Me and my daughter got to tour a B17, that was pretty cool, tight for a big guy though and loud!!!!

 

[f569]

I remember as a kid when we would go to San Antonio we would go to Lackland AFB and watch the B52s take off, what a site! Those wings seemed to go on forever and dropped to the point it looked like they were about to fall off, until they got enough speed for lift. You used to be able to pull up almost next to the runway. That even had a small museum that had several planes and helicopters you could climb in. I believe they had an Xc99 whistle seemed pretty big to a kid.
Me and my daughter got to tour a B17, that was pretty cool, tight for a big guy though and loud!!!!

View attachment 1051674

Back in the day we used to go to Super Sunday at the Marcus Dairy off I-84 in CT. It was a motorcycle gathering/swap meet/flea market kind of deal. I saw Indian Larry perform there doing the stunts on his bike that eventually killed him but I digress.
Anyway .... must have been a WW2 air show going on next door at Danbury Airport. Mostly smaller, single engine fighters going off overhead. Pretty cool stuff. All of a sudden (I felt it in my stomach before I saw it) a B-17 comes into view literally roaring as it climbed out over the tree tops. I couldn't take my eyes off of it and ran the Road King off the blacktop into the grass. Couple of hundred feet only as she passed overhead. Very cool and yes... very loud!
One of my favorites. Hope to catch a ride in one someday.
PS. What a smile on your daughter! Looks like she's having a ball. God bless!

 

[f569]

I was thinking the same thing, seems pretty sketchy when landing torsional forces must be incredible if one side touches down before the other.
The thought that came to mind was the P38 design, why wouldnt the tie the tail together like it???

Better hope left twix and right twix are getting along for the entire mission!

 

[DeltaV]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Str...n,headquarters located in Seattle, Washington

 

[Mike67]

Back in the day we used to go to Super Sunday at the Marcus Dairy off I-84 in CT. It was a motorcycle gathering/swap meet/flea market kind of deal. I saw Indian Larry perform there doing the stunts on his bike that eventually killed him but I digress.
Anyway .... must have been a WW2 air show going on next door at Danbury Airport. Mostly smaller, single engine fighters going off overhead. Pretty cool stuff. All of a sudden (I felt it in my stomach before I saw it) a B-17 comes into view literally roaring as it climbed out over the tree tops. I couldn't take my eyes off of it and ran the Road King off the blacktop into the grass. Couple of hundred feet only as she passed overhead. Very cool and yes... very loud!
One of my favorites. Hope to catch a ride in one someday.
PS. What a smile on your daughter! Looks like she's having a ball. God bless!

Thank you, shes part 1 of 2 of my greatest accomplishments!
That's cool! To me, the sound of a big ol radial is like listening to an old blown TF hemi!
That day we were out at our county airport, she was riding with the Civil Air Patrol, we happened to walk by the hangar at the end if the day and saw q couple of mechanics and asked if we could take a look. They were about to pull it out for a test fire and said sure come on up!
I inquired about a ride and I think its between $6-700. The lead mechanic told me to volunteer ( that's how he got into it) and after some documented hrs you can become part of the crew essentially and apply for ride alongs on mission tours. Pretty cool...dont have the time though...

 

[super-bee_ski]

Only flew once.

It is 17 miles from our house