This week, I'm reading the nineteenth chapter of the Peter David penned movie novelization of the 1991 Rocketeer film. This chapter takes place in the study of Howard Hughes, the inventor of the Cirrus X-3 rocketpack in the world of the film (in Dave Steven's original story, it was his unnamed analogue of Doc Savage). In this scene, you can see what's in Cliff's pockets, a Dave Stevens cameo as an ill-fated German rocketeer, an animated film featuring German rocket troopers, and references to the Spruce Goose (the Hughes H-4, a gargantuan - 218 ft long with a 319 ft wingspan - wooden flying boat meant to ferry men and equipment across the Atlantic during WW2). Interestingly enough, the book has Cliff hang glide from Howard Hughes' study all the way to the Chaplin airfield (which was actually filmed in Santa Maria, CA, some 150+ miles northwest)! Presumably, the airfield in the movie was not actually in Santa Maria. That said, there is a museum there, the Santa Maria Museum of Flight, that has a number of remaining props used in the film, as it was the real life hangar used in the film (check out this clip for some very thorough detective work of filming locations).
Although it aired on Disney Channel around the time the movie was released, Rocketeer: Excitement in the Air (both a featurette on the film as well as a documentary on manned flight hosted by Billy Campbell) has some shots of the real life Spruce Goose as well as some shots of its maiden (and only) flight as well as some info on Howard Hughes. It's well worth a watch!
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