Hughes' H-4 Hercules Flies! (1947) | 4k Up-scaled

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 18:13:34 +0000

Footage of the famous flight of Howard Hughes's flying boat, the H4 Hercules! It flew for about a mile at an altitude of 70 feet over Long Beach Harbor. Hughes wanted to prove his airplane was no "Spruce Goose" ...that it really could fly. And indeed, he shocked the world when he pulled back on the yoke that day. The Hercules maintained itself as the airplane with the largest wingspan until the Stratolaunch was unveiled in 2019! But it still holds the record as the world's largest flying boat.

This video was made by taking a soundless newsreel and combining it with the audio from another newsreel.