# Spruce Goose

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spruce-goose/636377>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [October 1, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spruce-goose/636377 "2012-10-01T11:38:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![IdahoMauleMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/71c47a/32.png) [@IdahoMauleMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IdahoMauleMan)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spruce-goose/636377/1 "2012-10-01T11:38:24Z")

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Sorry Mods, I don’t know how to paste links to the original article. It was in 2002.

Just went to the Evergreen Museum yesterday in McMinnville, OR with my daughter.

Saw the Goose.

Wow.

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**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spruce-goose/636377/2 "2012-10-01T11:40:26Z")

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Perhaps this is it:

> **[How come Howard Hughes’s “Spruce Goose” flew only once?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343539/how-come-howard-hughes-s-spruce-goose-flew-only-once)**

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**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spruce-goose/636377/3 "2012-10-01T14:34:15Z")

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Yeah, I just went to McMinnville last month and saw the H-4. It’s an amazing sight. Kind of a ripoff, though–they charge $20 admission and won’t let you into the cockpit without paying for another tour.

But I have a question. **Cecil** mentions that the idea was to avoid enemy torpedoes. But how would the Goose not have been a sitting duck for enemy _airplanes_?

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**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\
**Post date:** [October 1, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spruce-goose/636377/4 "2012-10-01T19:04:38Z")

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Aircraft still had limited range, then. By the time the Spruce Goose got close enough to, say, Germany, it would be even closer to the fighter bases in England. I don’t say that Adolf couldn’t have shot any down, but it would have hurt him badly each time he did it.

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**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\
**Post date:** [October 2, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spruce-goose/636377/5 "2012-10-02T15:58:07Z")

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Well, for one thing, the technology of the day allowed one to see Luftwaffe aircraft coming from very far away (with radar), and land-based fighters in Britain could have defended hypothetical H-4s. Conversely, it was still difficult to see the U-boats coming (particularly in 1942 when the project was greenlighted).

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**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spruce-goose/636377/6 "2012-10-03T16:08:59Z")

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I saw it back in 1988, when it was still housed in Los Angeles. Impressive, but we didn’t get to go inside.