Spruce Moose

Spruce Moose is the name of two fictional aircraft that appeared in the American animated television series TaleSpin and The Simpsons. It is also the name of a paper plane that competed in an event hosted by the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.

TaleSpin

In the TaleSpin episode "My Fair Baloo," the Spruce Moose was a massive (600 feet long) flying boat that was converted into a luxurious restaurant and nightclub. The fuselage was shaped much like a moose's head, with its over-the-wing engines making it appear it had antlers if viewed from the front.

The wingspan of the Moose was so wide it could not leave Cape Suzette, which was only accessible by a narrow passage surrounded by high cliffs on both sides, thus effectively grounding the aircraft. However, the Moose did eventually fly when Owl Capone, a gangster, hijacked the airplane.

The Simpsons

The Simpsons' Spruce Moose was a model aircraft built by Mr Burns in the episode "$pringfield". It was designed "to carry 200 people from New York's Idlewild Airport to the Belgian Congo in seventeen minutes". The model looked like a streamlined biplane with a bubble canopy and floatplane floats. No engines were visible.

In the end, Burns failed to realize that the plane was only a model, and threatened Smithers with a revolver to get him to board it.

"Britain's Best Paper Aeroplane"

The 23rd November, 2005 saw the University of Leeds host a paper aeroplane competition to see which paper aeroplane could remain in the air for the longest duration. Engineering and aviation students took part in the event which saw international media interest from the likes of the BBC, ITV, CBS, CNN, National Geographic and news media from Brazil, Canada and Italy to name but a few.

Originally cast as an outsider of the competition, Steve Bond's aircraft, named the "Spruce Moose", trumped all competitors earning his team free flights courtesy of sponsor Jet2.com. Modelled aeronautically on the F-14 Tomcat fighter, the Spruce Moose's melding of simplicity and ingenuity was learned at his high school in Bromley, Kent.

Aiming to break a world record, the Moose suffered at the hands of bewildered spectators and unfortunately-placed No Smoking signs which helped keep the 27.6 second record, originally set in 1998 in the United States, completely out of reach of the Moose, which flew for only 7 seconds.

Name

The name "Spruce Moose" is a pun on "Spruce Goose", the nickname the press gave to Howard Hughes' infamous Hughes H-4 Hercules flying boat, a huge aircraft made primarily out of wood. During The Simpsons' episode, Burns began to act and appear more and more like the reclusive Hughes when he built his model. On TaleSpin, the plane was designed by "Howard Huge", an anthropomorphic hippopotamus.

A steam train, the "Spruce Caboose", was also featured in The Simpsons episode "Marge Gets a Job". It was built so big that it instantly derailed and became a restaurant as seen in the episode.

External links

• The TaleSpin Spruce Moose
• Britain's Best Paper Aeroplane