OT: Spruce Goose and more

Best video of the Spruce Goose and various Howard Hughes miscellany I have seen:

Hughes Aircraft was in my neighborhood, and I used to play softball (badly) and fly home brew gliders off the cliffs in the vacant fields visible at the bottom of the screen at 4:46 of the vid. My childhood home was 9 doors off to the bottom left of that image.

Long long ago, but USA dominance in aerospace and etc continues, as does the immense economic and world power that comes from our high tech.

My godfather was the supervisor of research for Hughes from the late 50’s into the 80’s, and headed Hughes Research Labs that later moved to Malibu. I would visit with him in the complex of buildings next to the huge hanger in the video image, and he took me into it during a brief moment in the 60’s when there was nothing classified going on in it. It was not only BIG, but also quite gorgeous.

Off in the distance at the top of that image you can make out the Pacific Ocean where Ballona Creek spills into it on the right side of a not visible rock jetty. The beach to the left is where I started surfing in 1957.

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