During the height of the Second World War, American shipping to Europe was constantly being attacked by German U-boats.

In an attempt to completely bypass German subs, aviation pioneer Howard Hughes began construction on what would be the world's largest aircraft.

The plane was so large it could carry 750 passengers or two full-size tanks across the Atlantic.

Sadly it was hampered by wartime rationing of metals and it only

flew once in a memorable test flight. Learn more about the Hughes H4 Hercules, aka

the Spruce Goose on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. In 1942 the American military had a big problem. They were shipping enormous amounts of supplies

to Britain, but the supply ships were getting picked off by German U-boats. Known as the Battle

of the Atlantic, it was the longest continuous military engagement of the Second World War.

The losses by the Allies were staggering.

From 1939 to 1945, between the British and the Americans, 3,500 merchant vessels and 175 warships were sunk,

resulting in the deaths of 36,000 Navy soldiers and another 36,000 merchant marine sailors.

The Americans and British developed techniques for combating the German submarines, but ultimately

they could only mitigate the problem. So long as the bulk of

the equipment and personnel being sent from America to Britain had to be sent by ship,

it was vulnerable to U-boat attacks. The ultimate solution to the problem would just be to bypass the sea entirely.

The idea for creating an airplane that was large enough to transport cargo like a ship

came from the ship builder Henry Kaiser.

Kaiser was responsible for the construction of many of the Liberty ships which were built in the U.S.

Liberty ships were low-cost, mass-produced cargo ships,

all of a similar design that were constructed at 18 different shipyards

around the United States.

They were constructed at a rate of three every two days, and 2,710 of them were constructed between the years

...