"oneonta_ni's new McMinnville Page" McMinnville by oneonta_ni

<a href="http://www.sprucegoose.org">Evergreen Aviation Museum</a>

I finally got to see the famous Spruce Goose, after about 30 odd years of wanting to see it. My grandparents saw it in California when I was very young and I was really interested in it from that point onwards.

The plane is made of birch wood and is the largest plane in the world. It was designed by Howard Hughes and was only ever flown once.

The building which houses the plane is across from Evergreen Aviation, on flat land planted with grapes. The building was built with a large glass front. The plane was pieced together inside and the windows added afterwards.

We were told by one of the museum employees that the only place to get a picture of the whole plane was in the museum giftshop - on a postcard. The tail feathers are as tall as an eight story building - it is really huge!

Around the plane, under it's gigantic wings are little planes from the early years up to the 1970's or so. Some are war planes and others private and passenger planes. There are also 3 small Hughes 'bubble' helicopters. At one time, Howard Hughes wanted a 'helicopter in every garage'. There was also a P51 Mustang (my favourite, of course) and a tiny little one-seater plane with a rather dubious safety record.

This is a photo of the museum building, between the trees and the vineyard.

More photos and information in the travelogue.