Cute toy :)

A lot of people misunderstand this plane. The Department of war put out a request for cargo planes that used the minimum amount of metal, especially aluminum. De havilland made a very good and versatile plane out of plywood, the Mosquito. The war department request was for the largest cargo plane that could be built and flown. Hughes Aircraft came up with the ‘Spruce Goose’, but it was never adopted, even though it met all the requirements. After the war, Howard Hughes had a controlling interest in TWA airlines. Rival airlines ( mostly Pan Am) enlisted the help of Senator Owen Brewster to bring Hughes before congress on charges of war racketeering, even though the War Department didn’t support the charge. Brewster’s charges made him look like an idiot, but eventually those against Hughes managed to file enough injunctions and summons ( some scheduled on the same day but geographically distant,) that they were able to take much of his businesses. This included TWA, which he gave up control in the early 1960’s . The Spruce Goose was considered a marvel of aeronautical engineering in it’s time. But the press and government officials turned public against it.