On Sunday, March 20, 2011, The LA Conservancy did tours of the Hughes Aircraft Plant in Culver City, CA. This plant was created by Hughes mostly for his goverment aircraft R&D, but is most famous for being the origin of the "Spruce Goose" which was built in Building 15. Note the 2 mile long runway in this 1950s photo.
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Photo of the complex. The day of the tour was pouring rain and in the 50s, so we did not take a lot of outdoor photos.
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This is the inside of Building 15 where the "H-4 Hercules" flying boat was built.
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THis building was built from wood, a non-essential material during WW2. It is the largest wood building in the world.
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Building 15 is 742 feet long, 248 feet wide and 73 feet high. It has no internal support, just the molded wood arches you see, space 20 feet (~6m) apart.
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Looking down on the floor from the 3rd floor balcony, about 40 feet (~13 m) up. The people standing on the floor give a good indication of its size.
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Here you can see almost the entire building.
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Photos of the building under construction. In the top photo, the arches are being fabricated by gluing together wood boards on a mold.
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Closer views of the arches. While there are some steel bolts, everything else is wood.
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After they quit making aircraft, this facility was used for electronica and lasers. One of the ex employees on our tour said the facility was rumored to have a large top secret underground lab used for laser weapon research.
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Building 3, also all wood, was used for mockups of the H-4 cockpit/nose and systems. Later it was used for missile production. I'm amused how much the roof trusses look like wooden airplane wing ribs.
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"Mahogany Row" - executive offices, which will be restored by the new owners, Ratkovitch.
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The corner office which is supposed to have been used by Hughes himself.
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One wall had a giant world map marked with air routes, but nobody knew why, as they were not TWA routes. Hughes owned TWA.
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US on the map, showing Hughes AC locations in SF and LA.
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Close up of the map, showing the HAC symbols.
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The old lobby of the building stripped to its original wood. Note this building was built after WW2 and has steel roof trusses.
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