The History of the Goose and the Crane By Author Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D.
The History of the Goose and the Crane
by Geraldine Knatz, Ph.D.
No, this isn’t a post about two big birds. The Goose in this story is the largest wooden plane ever built officially known as the Hughes H-4 Hercules, but nicknamed the “Spruce Goose.” In 1943, the U. S. government commissioned Hughes Aircraft Company to build a large flying boat to move soldiers during the War. Because steel was in short supply, Hughes built the plane mostly out of birch (with some Spruce). The plane was built at Hughes Aircraft in Culver City. Its wingspan was longer than a football field It took Hughes until 1946 to finish the plane and he was under pressure by the government to prove it could fly. The plane had to be brought from Culver City to a four acre site that Hughes had leased from the Port of Long Beach on Pier E (now Pier T). Reminiscent of the movement of the space shuttle Endeavour’s trek across Los Angeles, the plane was moved in four sections, yet still necessitating 2300 phone and power lines to be moved or cut. Howard Hughes was in the cockpit when the taxi trials across the waters of the Port of Long Beach were set for November 2, 1947. Hughes taxied the Goose across the harbor waters, three times. Much to the surprise of the 15,000 spectators, on the third taxi, Hughes took the goose airborne, only 70 feet in the air. The plane was airborne less than a minute for just less than a mile. ,Hughes had stated prior to the trials, “I put the sweat of my life into this thing and I have my reputation rolled up into it and if it is a failure, I will probably leave the country and never return.” No way was he likely to miss the opportunity to fly the boat!
By the time of the goose’s flight however, the war was over. Howard bought the plane back from the Government but it never flew again. The goose returned to its roost on Pier E where a hanger was built around it. There it sat for over 30 years.
Meanwhile, as the Port of Long Beach grew in importance, land and waterfront was at a premium. The $3000 in yearly rent from Hughes was peanuts to the port and the Port wanted to Goose gone! In 1972, the Port increased the rent to $100,000 a year. Pressured to remove the plane when the Port was anxious to build a new marine oil terminal on Pier E and to prevent it from being chopped into smaller pieces, Hughes Summa donated it to the Southern California Chapter of the Aero Club. Jack Wrather whose company, the Wrather Corporation held the lease on the Queen Mary and surrounding property, agreed to construct a dome to house the plane if the Aero Club would maintain it.
On February 11, 1982, the Goose would be off again, thanks to the crane, Herman the German. A 350 ton floating crane that came to Long Beach Naval Station as part of the reparations with Germany at the end of World War II, travelers across Terminal Island and through the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach grew accustomed to seeing the large red and white crane as part of the harbor skyline.
By the time the crane met the goose, I was working at the Port of Long Beach and was able to witness the construction of the dome and the transport of the plane by barge to where Herman would make the heavy lift.
After the plane was installed in the dome, my staff conducted a site visit and each had their photos taken sitting in the cockpit- a site visit I sorely miss to this day. Over the years, I attended many gala’s held at night under the wingspan of the Goose. Every time I would walk into the darkened dome with spotlights on the Goose, I would be awestruck. It was a majestic site that even served as a backdrop for a speech by President Ronald Reagan in June 1983.
Today both the Goose and the Crane are gone.
The Wrather Corporation was purchased by the Disney Company in January 1988. Disney was not interested in the Spruce Goose attraction and so the Goose had to fly the coop again. In 1992 the Goose was dismantled again and transported to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville Oregon. It arrived in 1993 and reopened to the public in 2001. It is still an awe-inspiring site as shown in this photo, taken by my husband in 2019. But the magic of the plane at night in the dome can never be duplicated.
Herman the German’s new name is La Titan and it is owned by the Panama Canal Commission. If you want to learn more about Herman the German and how it got its name, see https://tideworks.com/herman-the-german/
The Dome built to house the Goose is still adjacent to the Queen Mary. Today, It has a new life as a cruise terminal for Carnival Cruise Lines. But around Long Beach, it is still known as the Spruce Goose Dome.
For more stories about the history of the Port of Los Angeles, see Geraldine Knatz’s new book, Port of Los Angeles, Conflict, Commerce and the Fight for Control.
With years of research and more than 200 maps and images, Geraldine Knatz shapes an insightful story of the Port of Los Angeles, from its early entrepreneurs to the city’s business and political leadership, and the inevitable conflicts that arose between them. Knatz digs into the back stories of the key players in a hardcore, well-documented piece of storytelling at its best. Port of Los Angeles matches a topic—the history of Los Angeles Harbor—with someone of unquestionable authority to tackle the subject. Knatz worked nearly four decades at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, her last eight years as Executive Director at Los Angeles. In this remarkable book, her expertise shows. Port of Los Angeles reads like a script for another Chinatown, only this time it's about saltwater and controlling the waterfront, not drinking water and controlling the land. Knatz takes readers on a journey that will educate and inspire, and fills these pages with real-life intrigue, masterminds, and politics extraordinaire. Port of Los Angeles will leave the world's maritime aficionados spellbound and historians in awe. A must-read for anyone who treasures the history of Los Angeles. "The Port of Los Angeles made this city. This very well might be "The Study" of what made modern Los Angeles." —William Deverell, Director, Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West.
