With Howard Hughes at the controls, this giant flying boat is made ready for taxi.

The press, the government, friends and enemies all stand by because the moment of truth is about to arrive. But everyone knows that this big old hunk of wood, wire, pins and glue will never fly.

Safety boats stand by as the giant engines are started one by one!

It starts its taxi run. 30 knots, 40 knots, 50 knots, 60 knots, 70 knots. All the way up to 80 knots and then pulls back on the power. Hughes then returned the giant goose to its starting point.

Once again, 30 knots, 50 knots, 80 knots. Now everyone is convinced that this thing just isn't going to fly! Again the plane is returned to the starting point.

This third time, at about 80 knots, Hughes gently pulls back on the control wheel and the giant gently lifts from the water breaking its bond with the lake. Hughes would fly this graceful goose about 70 feet above the water as though it were a small private plane. The flight would last for over a mile and Hughes would prove that a giant could indeed fly.

After proving once and for all, that he did know what he was doing. Hughes taxied the plane back to the dock. It was then placed in a giant hangar. It was maintained there until early in 1990, when Hollywood moved the giant plane outside and converted the hangar into a sound stage.

For a few years, people could pay to climb up a platform and see the likeness of Hughes at the controls of his giant flying boat.

In 1993, Evergreen Aviation acquired the Spruce Goose and built a beautiful museum building to house this part of history.

Next would come the very complicated, and expensive process of preparing this bird for shipment by barge, from Long Beach, California to McMinnville, Oregon.

The complete plane would be sealed in plastic just as you would seal a sandwich for keeping in the refrigerator. This was to protect it from the elements as it made the long journey by sea on a giant barge.

The motors and all control services, the wings, the elevators and the rudder would all need to be removed.

And then after arriving at its new home, the whole process would need to be reversed. This would actually mean completely rebuilding this big bird.

Everything that was wrapped, would need to be un-wrapped. Everything that was removed would need to be replaced. This would take thousands and thousands of man hours.

The rebuilding would be just as though the plane was being made ready for a flight. Everything would need to be correct and perfect!

Men would work aroung the clock as everything went back just as Hughes had placed it more than 55 years earlier.

The motors each weighed thousands of pounds. The props each weighed over a thousand pounds. Everything was big and heavy.

Extra care was taken to make sure that nothing was damaged. It would not be possible, or would be extremely expensive to replace anything after half a century.