I visited the Evergreen Aviation Museum and Educational Institute at McMinnville, Oregon, especially to see The Spruce Goose, the largest wooden aircraft ever built. The longest wingspan of any airplane stretches across the Museum with space to tuck many current aircraft in the shadow.

The Evergreen Aviation Museum was built as the permanent display place for The Spruce Goose. Given its size, from this perspective The Spruce Goose appears to be a model.

The eight story tail and span dwarfs the DC-3 in the foreground and the
B-17 farther in the background.

The workhorse of WW2, the full sized B-17 has its own "little" corner of the museum.
The width of the Spruce Goose tail is longer than the wingspan of the B-17.

The Hughes Flying Boat was to be the biggest airplane ever built and probably the most prodigious aviation project of all time. Only the courage and solitary dedication of Howard Hughes and his small development group caused this project to advance what a disgruntled U.S Senator dubbed the "flying lumberyard" resulting in its historic flight in November 1947.

Howard Hughes was at the controls of his "Flying Boat" during the unannounced first and only flight at Long Beach, California, on November 2, 1947. Flying at 80 miles per hour just 70 feet above the water, the Spruce Goose was airborne long enough to meet the requirements of the government contract with which it was built.

The aircraft was on display in Long Beach, California, until 1993 when it was disassembled and brought to the EVERGREEN AVIATION MUSEUM, in McMinnville, Oregon.

The Captain Michael King Smith Educational Institute is dedicated
to inspire and educate,
to promote and preserve aviation history,
to honor the patriotic service of our veterans.

Photos by Michael T. Sherer