http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2...-spruce-goose/
I visited the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon in late August and had the opportunity to see the "Goose" in person. It's enormous! For $50 or so you can sit in the pilot's seat and have your picture taken. I'd been it once before, so didn't take the time to go inside this time.
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If you're ever at Creve Coeur Airport near St. Louis ask if Jack Oonk is around, he saw the Spruce Goose fly-
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In 1947 we lived in San Pedro, California. My father was a ship rigger for Henry J. Kaiser. One day Dad came home from work and said "I think Howard is going to fly the Goose tomorrow! Would you like to come out to Terminal Island with me to see it fly?" Hey, I was nine years old and building model airplanes like crazy. What do you think I answered to that question! :-)
We were standing on the quay at the Kaiser facility when they brought the airplane out for "taxi tests". It was pretty wild. He was taxiing down the bay and there was a nice little bow wave under the front of the airplane. He sped up just a little and the bow wave slid back a ways and all of a sudden it went away. Then I could see boats under the fuselage and I realized he was flying. The airplane never seemed to change pitch attitude at all. It just levitated out of the water, flew along for a little bit and then settled gently back into the water again. It never did get out of ground effect, with those long wings. There was no pitch gyration or wobble or anything. It just levitated out of the water, flew along a little ways just a little above the water and then settled back down into the bay. Howard never took it out of the hangar again! I imagine there were quite a few people around the area who saw the flight. It was sixtyfour years ago. There are probably a few of us still around. I think that flight was what caused me to eventually get my seaplane rating!