TORRANCE, CALIF.-Hy Joseph (in photo above) was sitting on a hillside and happened to witness Howard Hughes make the one and only flight of the Hercules, the largest flying boat ever built. Its wingspan alone was 320 feet, 11 inches-the biggest in aviation history. "It was really something to see-flying above the water near Long Beach," Joseph still recalls with excitement. The 400,000-pound plane, dubbed "The Spruce Goose" by the media, flew for one mile, remaining 70 feet above the water.

Although "The Goose" is gone from Long Beach (to the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Ore.), more than the memories remain about it at the Western Museum of Flight, which has some of its actual engines...read more>