At the Evergreen Aviation @ Space Museum Mc Minnville, Oregon

To close out our trip to Oregon we included a stop in Minnville, Oregon, and visited the Evergreen Aviation air museum. The museum now houses the “Spruce Goose”, you may recall this iconic aircraft was once put on display adjacent to the Queen Mary under the white dome at Long Beach harbor.

The white dome now has been repurposed as a departure point for luxury cruise lines. Lin and I have not seen the “Spruce Goose” for several decades now but we have to say it is in remarkable condition.

Howard Hughes was given a military contract during WWII to design and construct a transport plane for troops and equipment. Because of the ongoing, war resources needed to construct this huge plane would put a strain on other areas of war production. A stipulation was put into the contract that the plane would have to be made out of wood which was plentiful. Howard Hughes was a experienced engineer and was the head of his aviation company. Hughes and his company took on the challenge of building the largest aircraft ever built.

Some years had passed before the plane was completed and ready for its first test flight, the flight was short but the aircraft which was flying boat design rose briefly out of the waters and was under controlled flight. The war ended the military turned its attention to development of jet aircraft. Howard Hughes put the “Spruce Goose” in storage having satisfied the stipulations of the contract.

The Evergreen Aviation museum does have other aircraft on display and also another building you can explore that houses the Space museum. I highly recomend a visit if your traveling through the area.

The “Spruce Goose” was not made out of Spruce but Birch trees.

Thanks for leting us share out travels

Mike-KB6USJ

Lin-GMRS

More Information about the museum can be found by clicking on the Link http://www.evergreenmuseum.org

On a recent visit to Portland I took advantage of an invitation to make a visit to a restoration project that is ongoing in Salem Oregon. This project involves a complete restoration of a B-17G Aircraft the plane is affectionately called the “The Lacy Lady”. The Lady was bought from a surplus air strip at the end of World War 2, by a entrepreneur who wanted the aircraft for his fledging service station business in Milwaukie, Oregon. His marketing idea was very successful, he mounted the aircraft above his service station on a pedestal for those traveling down the road could see in plain site. It came to be known as “The Gas Station Bomber” and became an attraction in Milwaukie, Oregon. It remained on the pedestal from 1947 until 2014 before it was moved to McNary Field. The B-17 Foundation seeks to honor WWII veterans by returning this specific aircraft to a flyable condition for future generations to learn about history, and the sacrifice that countless air crews made during WWII.

An artist who recreated the nose art on the aircraft needed a model and yes the Lacy Lady does exist and I met her during my visit she will be the sweetheart of the air on this B-17

Best of Luck to all the volunteers in this endeavor, and also Thank You Burt for a great tour!

More information can be obtained by going to the B-17 Alliance Foundation at http://b17alliance.com

Meeting starts at 6:30 pm (local) Roundtable Pizza 27 N. Main St Angels Camp Ca.