Spruce Goose Airplane

We took a day trip to McMinnville, Oregon to visit the Evergreen Air and Space Museum.  The museum was about 60 miles from our base camp in Tillamook, but it was worth the drive inland.

The mammoth plane called the "Spruce Goose" was built almost entirely of wood due to the wartime restrictions on metals.  Even though the plane was made from birch, the media insisted on the name "Spruce Goose".  Henry Kaiser, steel magnate and shipbuilder, conceived the idea of a massive flying transport plane to move troops and materials across the Atlantic Ocean.  He turned to Howard Hughes to design and build the plane.  However, in 1944 Henry Kaiser pulled out of the project. The plane only flew once, therefore, it is said to be the largest plane built ever to fly only one time.  While on a taxi test, with Howard Hughes at the controls, he made the decision to fly the plane.  It flew just over one mile at an altitude of 70 feet for 1 minute.  This short flight proved to the skeptics that the Spruce Goose would fly. 
Hughes always dreamed of flying it again. He even retained a full crew to maintain the plane in a climate controlled hangar until his death in 1976.  However, the plane never flew again.
It was kept out of the public eye for 33 years and after his death it changed owners several times before finding its home at the Evergreen Museum.

The Spruce Goose

 

This plane is so big that it went from one end of the massive hangar to the other end.  Notice how the other planes that are sitting under the wing and along the back.  The large piece toward you in the center of the picture is the pontoon on the end of the wing.  This aircraft was a huge flying boat.  I had a hard time trying to get a picture of the entire plane. 

Howard Hughes in his aviator suit.

Below are some pictures of other airplanes and helicopters at the museum.

 

Replica of the Spirit of St. Louis

 

Gee Bee racer plane

 

 Lear Jet

 

 

 

 

 

This is the type of helicopter Richard used when he was learning to fly helicopters.

 

 

 

There was even a Bi-plane ride for the kids.

 

 

 

The Space Museum next door housed a few of the modern military aircraft, but was mostly vehicles used in the exploration of space.

 

 

 

The Mars Rover.

 

 

 

 

The Moon Walker

 

 

and the Moon Rover.

 

 

Black Bird

 

 

 

This is the front of the Black Bird. 

 

 

Below is one of the engines.

 

 

 

 

Unmanned Drone

 

 

 

The  Crew Return Vehicle (CRV),  was a proposed lifeboat or escape module for the International Space Station.

 

 

 

Can't forget to include this cute shuttle.

 

 

As we were leaving, Alan spotted this Beechcraft Starship.

It was manufactured from 1983 - 1995.

 

 

It's a neat looking plane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier that morning, as we entered the museum property, we saw this 747 sitting on top of the building.

  

Turns out this is an indoor waterpark with slides, a wave pool, hot tub and spa.  We wished that we had brought our swim suits. 

 

 You can see the large slides coming out of the side of the airplane. 

There was even a vineyard on the property. 

Below are a couple of other interesting things we saw on our day trip.

The scenery is very different inland compared to the greenery of the coast.

 

We assumed this was wheat.....couldn't tell the difference between the wheat and the barley.

 

 

 

This was a grove of Hazelnut trees.