Hughes H-4 Hercules
The Hughes H-4 Hercules (commonly known as the ''Spruce Goose''; Aircraft registration, registration NX37602) is a prototype strategic airlift flying boat designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft Company. Intended as a transatlantic flight transport for use during World War II, it was not completed in time to be used in the war. The aircraft made only one brief flight, on November 2, 1947, and the project never advanced beyond the prototype. Built from wood (Duramold process) because of wartime restrictions on the use of aluminum and concerns about weight, the aircraft was nicknamed the ''Spruce Goose'' by critics, although it was made almost entirely of birch.Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II,'' pp. 49–58, Cypress, CA, 2013. . The ''Birch Bitch'' was a more accurate but less Acceptance#Social acceptance, socially acceptable moniker that was allegedly used by the mechanics who worked on the plane. The Hercules ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Flying Boat
A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though a flying boat’s fuselage provides buoyancy, it may also utilize under-wing floats or wing-like hull projections (called sponsons) for additional stability. Ascending into common use during the First World War, flying boats rapidly grew in both scale and capability during the interwar period, during which time numerous operators found commercial success with the type. Flying boats were some of the largest aircraft of the first half of the 20th century, exceeded in size only by bombers developed during the Second World War. Their advantage lay in using water instead of expensive land-based runways, making them the basis for international airlines in the interwar period. They were also commonly used as maritime patrol aircraft and air-s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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McMinnville, Oregon
McMinnville is the county seat of and the most populous city in Yamhill County, Oregon, Yamhill County, Oregon, United States at the base of the Oregon Coast Range. The city is named after McMinnville, Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 34,319. McMinnville is located in the Willamette Valley at the confluence of the North and South forks of the Yamhill River. The city's economy has both industry and service businesses as well as the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, home of Howard Hughes's famed ''Spruce Goose'' flying boat. Linfield University provides higher education. McMinnville is a center of the well-developed Oregon wine, Oregon wine industry in the Willamette Valley, which has hundreds of wineries and vineyards. History McMinnville founder William T. Newby joined the Oregon Trail#Great Migration of 1843, Great Migration of 1843, of people from the eastern states to the west. He later claimed land in 1844 on the p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Playa Vista, Los Angeles
Playa Vista is a list of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood in the Westside (Los Angeles County), Westside area of Los Angeles, California, United States. The area was Hughes Airport (California), the headquarters of Hughes Aircraft Company from 1941 to 1985 and the site of the construction of the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" aircraft. The area began development in 2002 as a planned community with residential, commercial, and retail components.Vincent, Roger (December 18, 2014"Playa Vista office complex gets makeover, draws creative tenants"''Los Angeles Times'' The community attracted businesses in technology, media and entertainment and is part of Silicon Beach. History Tongva Native Americans The Tongva inhabited the location now occupied by Playa Vista at the village of Guashna. A Tongva sacred burial site is located here: "about 1,000 Native American remains [...] had been exhumed during construction," grave sites that were deemed sacred by the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hughes Airport (California)
The Hughes Airport was a private airport owned by Howard Hughes for the Hughes Aircraft Company. It was located just north of the Westchester bluffs and district of Los Angeles, California, from 1940 until its closure in 1985. It was directly south of and along Jefferson Boulevard and Ballona Creek, the location of the present-day neighborhood of Playa Vista. History In 1940, Howard Hughes bought of the Ballona wetlands south of Jefferson Avenue in south-west Culver City. A total of were available for a runway and an unpaved runway 23/5 was operational in 1943. In 1948, were paved with asphalt, extended by 1962 to . Takeoffs to the west had to be coordinated with nearby Los Angeles International Airport. The field served a number of aircraft and helicopter development projects of the Hughes Aircraft Co. and Hughes Tool Company (Summa Corporation). At one time, according to Noah Dietrich, it "was the longest runway on the West Coast." Spruce Goose The "Spruce Goose", o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Strategic Material
Strategic material is any sort of raw material that is important to an individual's or organization's strategic plan and supply chain management. Lack of supply of strategic materials may leave an organization or government vulnerable to disruption of the manufacturing of products which require those materials. It can also refer to a group or department that manages these materials. The term "critical material" is increasingly used rather than "strategic material". In government terms, they are materials, usually raw materials that have a particular strategic significance to a government or nation, often in time of war. Their strategic need is because of their crucial importance for either economic or military purposes. Some materials are relatively simple, but are required in great quantities during wartime. Others are obscure and technically complex. Although not required in large quantities, their irreplaceability and critical need makes them especially valuable. Foodstuffs ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Glenn Odekirk
Glenn Odekirk (Waseca, Minnesota May 9, 1905 – Las Vegas, Nevada January 12, 1987) was an American aerospace engineer who made significant contributions to the work of Hughes Aircraft. Biography The son of Edward John and Louise (Lewis) Odekirk, Glenn, also known by his nickname 'Ode' (pronounced "OH-dee"), was an engineer who graduated from Oregon State University in 1927. During the 1930s and through World War II, Odekirk was the assistant to the businessman Howard Hughes, the president of Hughes Aircraft, with whom he had a very close professional relationship. Odekirk met Hughes on the set of his movie '' Hell's Angels'', and Hughes was very impressed with him. For several years, the two flew around the country together, testing the young engineer's ideas and arguing constantly over the most trivial matters of airplane construction. In 1935, Odekirk co-designed the Hughes H-1 Racer. It set a world speed record of 352.39 miles per hour in September of that year, beating Ray ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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M4 Sherman
The M4 Sherman, officially medium tank, M4, was the medium tank most widely used by the United States and Western Allies in World War II. The M4 Sherman proved to be reliable, relatively cheap to produce, and available in great numbers. It was also the basis of several other armored fighting vehicles including self-propelled artillery, tank destroyers, and armored recovery vehicles. Tens of thousands were distributed through the Lend-Lease program to the British Commonwealth, Soviet Union, and other Allied Nations. The tank was named by the British after the American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman. The M4 Sherman tank evolved from the M3 Lee, a medium tank developed by the United States during the early years of World War II. The M3, also known by its service names "Grant" and "Lee," was characterized by a unique design that featured the main armament mounted in a side sponson. The Grant variant, used by British forces, employed a lower-profile turret ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Liberty Ship
Liberty ships were a ship class, class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Although British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass-produced on an unprecedented scale, the Liberty ship came to symbolize U.S. wartime industrial output. The class was developed to meet British orders for transports to replace ships that had been lost. Eighteen American shipyards built 2,710 Liberty ships between 1941 and 1945 (an average of three ships every two days), easily the largest number of ships ever produced to a single design. The Liberty ship was effectively superseded by the Victory ship, a somewhat larger, materially faster, more modern-powered vessel of generally similar design. Over 500 were built between 1943 and 1945. Liberty ship production mirrored (albeit on a much larger scale) the manufacture of "Hog Islander" and similar standardized ship types duri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Henry J
The Henry J is an American automobile built by the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation and named after its chairman, Henry J. Kaiser. Mass production, Production of six-cylinder models began in their Willow Run factory in Michigan in July 1950, and four-cylinder production started shortly after Labor Day, 1950. The official public introduction was on September 28, 1950, and the car was marketed until 1954. Development The Henry J was the idea of Henry J. Kaiser, who sought to increase sales of his Kaiser automotive line by adding a car that could be built inexpensively and thus affordable for the average American in the same vein that Henry Ford produced the Model T. The goal was to attract "less affluent buyers who could only afford a used car", and the attempt became a pioneering American compact car. The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation received a federal government loan in 1949 to finance the project. This monetary support specified various particulars of the vehicle. Kaiser-Frazer would ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Battle Of The Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, Allied naval Blockade of Germany (1939–1945), blockade of Germany, announced the day after the declaration of war, and Germany's subsequent counter-blockade. The campaign peaked from mid-1940 to the end of 1943. The Battle of the Atlantic pitted U-boats and other warships of the German (navy) and aircraft of the (air force) against the Royal Navy, Royal Canadian Navy, United States Navy, and Merchant Navy (United Kingdom), Allied merchant shipping. Convoys, coming mainly from North America and predominantly going to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, were protected for the most part by the British and Canadian navies and air forces. These forces were aided by ships and aircraft of the United States beginning on 13 September 1941. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Materiel
Materiel or matériel (; ) is supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commerce, commercial supply chain management, supply chain context. Military In a military context, the term ''materiel'' refers either to the specific needs (excluding manpower) of a force to complete a specific military operation, mission, or the general sense of the needs (excluding manpower) of a functioning army. An important category of materiel is commonly referred to as ordnance, especially concerning mounted guns (artillery) and the shell (projectile), shells they consume. Along with fuel, and ammunition, munitions in general, the steady supply of ordnance is an ongoing logistical challenge in active combat zones. Materiel management consists of continuing actions relating to planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, controlling, and evaluating the application of resources to ensure the effective and economical support of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |