Howard Hughes Stratoliner

[Bud-n-Texas]

I thought this was kind of an unusual twist, has anyone actually seen this in person?



The fuselage of Howard Hughes Stratoliner SB-307B, NC19904 has been converted to a houseboat and is named Cosmic Muffin. It is available for charter in Florida. Photo courtesy Plane Boats Inc.

 

[Pilgrim]

"Cosmic Muffin"???

The children of the 60's are still very much with us, it seems.

 

[scotrace]

Yikes. That seems wrong.


But your avatar rocks, Mr Hat Lucky!

 

[Hemingway Jones]

Well boats have been made into planes, so why not planes into boats?

As an aside, one might argue if this belongs in the hat section. I was expecting to see Howard Hughes' Stetson Stratoliner! lol

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

Whats that song?

"Cosmic Muffin"???

The children of the 60's are still very much with us, it seems.

Old Hippie
He turned thirty-five last Sunday
In his hair he found some gray
But he still ain't changed his lifestyle
He likes it better the old way
So he grows a little garden in the back yard by the fence
He's consuming what he's growing nowadays in self defense
He get's out there in the twilight zone
Sometimes when it just don't make no sense

He gets off on country music
Cause disco left him cold
He's got young friends into new wave
But he's just too friggin' old
And he dreams at night of Woodstock and the day John Lennon died
How the music made him happy and the silence made him cry
Yeah he thinks of John sometimes
And he has to wonder why

Chorus:
He's an old hippie and he don't know what to do
Should he hang on to the old
Should he grab on to the new
He's an old hippie...his new life is just a bust
He ain't trying to change nobody
He's just trying real hard to adjust

He was sure back in the sixties that everyone was hip
Then they sent him off to Vietnam on his senior trip
And they forced him to become a man while he was still a boy
And in each wave of tragedy he waited for the joy
Now this world may change around him
But he just can't change no more

Chorus

Well, he stays away a lot now from the parties and the clubs
And he's thinking while he's joggin' 'round
Sure is glad he quit the hard drugs
Cause him and his kind get more endangered everyday
And pretty soon the species will just up and fade away
Like the smoke from that torpedo...just up and fade away

Chorus

 

[Tomasso]

The 307's Nickname Was "The Flying Whale".

This is a strange craft.

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

Thanks Scott

and as to your question Hem, you may well be correct, I just do not know where it would go. I am sure a bartender will have the answer.

 

[gekisai29]

power to the people... rock on!

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

This is a strange craft.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

Old Hippie
He turned thirty-five last Sunday
In his hair he found some gray
But he still ain't changed his lifestyle
He likes it better the old way
So he grows a little garden in the back yard by the fence
He's consuming what he's growing nowadays in self defense
He get's out there in the twilight zone
Sometimes when it just don't make no sense

He gets off on country music
Cause disco left him cold
He's got young friends into new wave
But he's just too friggin' old
And he dreams at night of Woodstock and the day John Lennon died
How the music made him happy and the silence made him cry
Yeah he thinks of John sometimes
And he has to wonder why

Chorus:
He's an old hippie and he don't know what to do
Should he hang on to the old
Should he grab on to the new
He's an old hippie...his new life is just a bust
He ain't trying to change nobody
He's just trying real hard to adjust

He was sure back in the sixties that everyone was hip
Then they sent him off to Vietnam on his senior trip
And they forced him to become a man while he was still a boy
And in each wave of tragedy he waited for the joy
Now this world may change around him
But he just can't change no more

Chorus

Well, he stays away a lot now from the parties and the clubs
And he's thinking while he's joggin' 'round
Sure is glad he quit the hard drugs
Cause him and his kind get more endangered everyday
And pretty soon the species will just up and fade away
Like the smoke from that torpedo...just up and fade away

Chorus

Who sang that?

 

[J.S.Udontknowme]

Who sang that?

Bellamy Brothers

 

[jamespowers]

That is just wrong. What kind of idiot ruins a plane that only a handful of existed in the first place. :eusa_doh::rage: It is worthless now. I bet they put fuzzy pink wallpaper inside it with shag carpets. Cosmic muffin?! Looks like the guy who did this has been having too many hash brownies. :eusa_doh:

Regards,

J

 

["Doc" Devereux]

That is just wrong. What kind of idiot ruins a plane that only a handful of existed in the first place. :eusa_doh::rage: It is worthless now. I bet they put fuzzy pink wallpaper inside it with shag carpets. Cosmic muffin?! Looks like the guy who did this has been having too many hash brownies. :eusa_doh:

According to the 'plane's site, she was rescued from complete destruction by the guy who did the conversion, and it was only decided to make her over as a boat when attempts to make her airworthy again failed.

 

[jamespowers]

According to the 'plane's site[/URL], she was rescued from complete destruction by the guy who did the conversion, and it was only decided to make her over as a boat when attempts to make her airworthy again failed.

He should have tried harder. Boening did it with an example in worse shape than that---twice. [huh] :eusa_doh:
I just can't understand what caused someone to rip off the wings and tail---making it nothing more than a shadow of its former self.

Regards,

J

 

[Tomasso]

"The Flying Penthouse", It Was The First Private Luxury Airliner.

A special model SB-307B for Howard Hughes was built with more powerful engines and extra fuel tanks for an around-the-world flight that was cancelled due to the start of World War II. The flight was never made. It was the first Stratoliner delivered to a customer; its initial flight occurred on July 13, 1939. Postwar it was fitted with a luxury interior, including a bedroom, and named The Flying Penthouse.

A 1964 hurricane severely damaged it and rendered it unflyable. In 1969 it was purchased as scrap for $61.99 -- the fuselage was salvaged (the aft rounded pressure bulkhead formed the cabin after end), then mounted on a boat hull and converted into a luxury yacht named The Londonaire.

 

[jamespowers]

$61.99!? Geez, no wonder a hippie could afford to make a mess out of it. :eusa_doh:

 

[TomMason]

Saddens me to see that wonderful airplane end up that way. Could some anitque ariplance society adopt it? I was at an airshow this satuday in santa Rosa and the local club and adopted a B-26 that was rotting on a farm.

 

[Atomic Glee]

Good grief, that's depressing. I'm an aviation geek, and the Stratoliner has always been one of my favorite airliners. It's depressing to see it end up a boat, doubly so a boat named the "Cosmic Muffin" (ugh).

 

[Absinthe_1900]

Perhaps this should be moved to aircraft thread?

I remember reading some years ago that the airframe was too far gone to make it flight worthy, sometimes this is the best you can get out of this type of situation, at least something is left instead of it all being made into soda cans.

One of a kind aircraft have been lost far too many times, money is the main reason, then you have to keep and maintain what you restore, aircraft museums run into this all the time, and it's a very difficult decision, what is kept, and what is left to deteriorate.

You should see what is lurking in storage at NASM, it's taken many, many, years to get the New Udvar-Hazy complex going, and they are far from finished.

This machine sat in the open for many years.
http://www.air-and-space.com/xc99.htm

 

[squid]

I was at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola a couple years ago. They have a fully restored plane that had once been parked in a playground and filled with concrete.