The Spruce Goose and the Scorpion

Steve Propes

Years after Long Beach lost the Spruce Goose in July 1992, another transportation attraction in the Queen Mary milieu, the Scorpion submarine, is slated for removal, but for entirely different reasons.

Two years ago, the leasee of the sub, Urban Commons, unveiled a plan for a $250 million entertainment complex on the bay front next to the Queen Mary with a 2,400-foot-long boardwalk, a new small-boat marina, cafes, bars and shops. The plan called for a 200-room hotel, an amphitheater for concerts and nearly 700,000 square feet of retail space.

The co-founder of Urban Commons said there were plans to develop the area now occupied by the submarine into a “beach club feature, with a sandy beach, a pool and a refreshment area, accessible to visitors to the property as well as to guests of the hotel.” All that remains of these plans is a listing submarine infested with racoons, having been off-limits to tourists for several years.

To anyone with a lingering memory of the acquisition of the Spruce Goose, the dome in which it was housed, and the plans for Disney Port and Disney Sea, which grew out of the Spruce Goose, these recreational promises must reverberate as a bad dream.

Nearly 40 years ago, the Spruce Goose (the Hercules HK-1 flying boat), the world’s largest aircraft was acquired by the California Aero, a move that prevented it from being cut up in little pieces according to Long Beach businessman John Deats.

“After Howard Hughes died, the original plan was to cut it up and give it to various air museums in the country. Then Walter Drew of Antique Motor News went to the original Spruce Goose hangar in the Port of Long Beach to announce that Hughes’ Summa Corporation would donate the plane to the Southern California chapter of the Aero Club.”

One of the Aero Club members, Jack Wrather, made a pledge to construct the dome if the Aero Club would provide maintenance. It took a couple of years to build the dome and move in the Spruce Goose in 1980.

“There was a big party in the aft deck of the Queen Mary. I watched them bring the Spruce Goose by barge, helped by Herman the German,” a large harbor crane. “Then they closed the side of the dome.”

Deats recalled while in the dome, he was allowed to sit in the pilot’s seat and to literally hang from the rafters, snapping numerous photos of the gigantic aircraft. “The Spruce Goose was on display for a good number of years.” Deats said. “The Spruce Goose and the dome were immaculately maintained.”

The California Aero Club awarded ownership of the Spruce Goose to the Evergreen Aviation Museum in Oregon and its removal and transfer was approved by the club’s board in early July 1992. “It upset me the Aero Club was selling the plane. The dome was on city land. The president of the club, Nissen Davis, a McDonnell Douglas executive, sold it to Evergreen Transportation in Oregon.” About the sale, Davis said “We do not trust the City of Long Beach,” said Deats.

Wrather had financed the Disneyland Hotel after Disney had exhausted his credit line building the Disneyland theme park. The hotel was completed in October 1955, and immediately shared the success of Disneyland. When Disney later attempted to buy the hotel, Wrather refused to sell.

Wrather had envisioned a mini-Disneyland in the port with all sorts of attractions. After Wrather died in 1984, “Wrather’s widow played hardball, making them take the whole package, the hotel and the rights to the Spruce Goose attraction. Disney did not want the Queen Mary and the other features.” After giving Disney Sea a shot in the late ‘80s, Disney kept the Disneyland Hotel, jettisoned the Queen Mary deal in 1991 and informed the Aero Club it no longer wished to display the Hercules aircraft.

Before the transfer of the airplane to Evergreen, Killingsworth Presentations hoped to “open a museum with a bunch of rides and attractions on the point where the Queen Mary and the dome are. They invited the press down to a presentation in the dome, it was awesome, audio and video were stunning. They planned to have historic airplanes and replicas inside the dome, rides and attractions,” said Deats. Cam Killingsworth could not be reached for comment.

“I went to the ends of the earth to save the plane, but the owners of the Spruce Goose said, ‘We do not trust the City of Long Beach.’ Disney got lied to by the city, which was controlled by the Port of Long Beach,” said Deats. “They were told the shipyard was not going to be closed,” though plans to expand the harbor on land Disney needed for its project were afoot. The shipyard closed in 1997. “If not for those lies, we’d have a major Disney attraction right now.”

steve@beachcomber.news

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