Spruce Goose
One of the most misunderstood and underappreciated characters of the twentieth century was Howard Hughes.
This was in part due to his own extraordinary humility. The whole story about him having become a recluse in a Las Vegas Hotel is just a cover story.
Mr. Hughes decided that his notoriety inhibited him in his philanthropical endeavors, so he "dropped out", joined Captain Crayon's Air Squadron, and adopted the nom de guerre of Howard Hues.
Shortly after this he initiated construction of an entire fleet of his fantastic eight engined seaplane design popularly known as the "Spruce Goose", because of its wooden airframe and wings. These, of course, were incorporated into the inventory of Captain Crayon's Air Squadron.
Today they continue to fly covert humanitarian missions on a global scale. This is facilitated by the three things:
They fly only at night.
They never use airports.
They use stealth technology (these wooden aircraft are invisible to radar)
Even sophisticated aircraft such as those in the CCAS occasionally have malfunctions. On one such occasion a CCAS Spruce Goose made an emergency landing on the Long Pine Run Reservoir Lake near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. This event is depicted in the accompanying drawing.
Mr. Hues, always a "hands on" type of guy, continues to personally pilot many of these missions at the ripe old age of 103.
