Lookin'4AMERICA, No. 1 Evergreen Aviation Museum, McMinnville, Oregon

This is the first of a series describing in detail some of the places we’ve been while we’ve been out LOOKIN4AMERICA. It occurs to me that some of you may pass through some of these areas and not stop to see what is there simply because no one who has been there has taken the time to describe it.

Most people are familiar with the term “Spruce Goose” and many people actually know that it refers to an airplane built at the close of WWII by Howard Hughes, under contract with the War Department. That contract called for the building of an intercontinental bomber capable of flying at least 4,000 miles without refueling and being able to LAND ON THE WATER. Airfields on land were few and far between in the Pacific so amphibian aircraft (capable of landing on both water and land—the famous Catalina PBY a prime example) and flying boats (aircraft that could only land on water) were desired because they could land where no airfields were available; even on the high seas to rendezvous with ships of the fleet with supplies or personnel.

Martin-Mars built the largest production model of such a plane during

WWII. Five of these very large flying boats were built with two surviving today. Those two are owned by a Canadian firm, Coulsen Aerial Tankers, and are used as aerial tankers for wildfire suppression. These large planes can scoop water from a lake as they fly just skimming the surface and then deliver their 8000 gallons on a fire miles away. The photos were taken during the wildfire incidents in Southern California during the fall of 2007, as the plane was about to touch down on the waters of Lake Ellsinore.

The Mars Aerial Tankers constitute another interesting sidetrip. They can be seen all summer long--when they're not employed fighting fire--on Sproat Lake in Central Vancouver Island, British Columbia. If you're lucky, you'll get to see and hear one of the high speed warmup runs that one of the two planes makes each day. On the day we visited we were invited to go out to one of the moored airplanes and tour its interior. The flightdeck is so large that I think you could hold a senior prom there.

Because “strategic materials” were in such short supply during the War the contract also required that the airplane be built with materials not listed as “strategic”. This meant steel, aluminum; copper, rubber and other products were either not to be used at all or in very minimal quantities.

Aviation genius Howard Hughes was granted the contract to build a large flying boat made of wood. The term “Spruce Goose” is really a misnomer in that no spruce wood was used in building the plane.

Because of huge cost overruns and the ending of the WWII conflict, Congress cancelled the contract. With the plane so near completion, however, Hughes invested more millions of his own money to complete the plane.

Then, on a clear Southern California afternoon, Hughes taxied the plane out of its hanger near the Inner Harbor in Long Beach, California, and slowly taxied back and forth across the harbor. This appearance had been widely reported to be purely a taxi test and no attempt to fly the plane was to be made.

My uncle, with whom we were living at the time having recently moved to California from our home in Chicago, Illinois, gathered me up and the two of us headed to Long Beach to witness this first test of the largest airplane ever built. We found a place along the rail at the bluffs in Long Beach, along with thousands of other interested spectators.

As I recall, the plane, engines roaring, passed from left to right in front of us, returning in the opposite direction shortly. I distinctly remember the engines sounding much louder on the next pass and before our eyes the plane lifted off the water and soared through the air for a considerable distance prior to settling down onto the water again. As a boy of 8 or 9 I had no idea I had just witnessed aviation history. All I knew was that it was a really neat, really big airplane.

Following that one brief flight the “Spruce Goose” was retired to a specially built hanger along one of the sloughs near the harbor where it was lifted out of the water on a cradle and bathed in a climate controlled atmosphere.

I had one more personal experience with the “Goose” when I was in the Navy and the ship in which I served was stationed at the Naval Station in Long Beach. I frequently drove past the hanger where the “Goose” was stored and one could barely see the windows of the cockpit through some windows on the front of the hanger.

Years later, following the tragic end to the life of Howard Hughes, the “Goose” was sold to a group of private citizens who erected a huge geodesic dome structure near the Queen Mary luxury liner in Long Beach Harbor. They installed the “Goose” inside and sold tickets for visitors to walk around the plane and see it.
Finally, having been less than a huge financial success, the group sold the building and the plane. The plane was purchased by Evergreen Aviation of Oregon, which pledged to build an appropriate permanent home for the orphaned plane. The “Goose” made its trek north in pieces lashed to sea-going barges and languished in a storage area of the airport in McMinnville, Oregon, while the near building was completed.

Finally, the enormous structure was completed and the “Goose” was once again available for all to see. McMinnville is just a short pleasant ride from Salem, Oregon.

The plane rests comfortably as the centerpiece of a wonderful aviation museum containing many other planes. Many of them are arranged around and under the Hughes Flying Boat and provide a scale by which to measure the amazing dimensions of this plane. Docents give lectures governing the plane revealing little details few if any people have ever heard before. For example, did you know the tail threatened to simply fall off during that short flight? There were technicians in the tail standing on stepladders when the flight was made and they had made adjustments in some of the control cables, which were held together by clamping pliers. Before being permanently mothballed in its Long Beach Hanger, large “staples” were added on the fuselage near the tail to strengthen the structure. The fact that Hughes had this type of work done indicates that he actually intended to fly it again. Alas, it was never to be. The gigantic airplane built almost exclusively of wood—the only one ever—was simply to fade into the background of aviation history until resurrected in the 1970’s.

The specifications of the plane are as follows:

Performance specifications are projected.
General characteristics
Crew: 3
Length: 218 ft 8 in (66.65 m)
Wingspan: 319 ft 11 in (97.54 m)
Height: 79 ft 4 in (24.18 m)
Fuselage height: 30 ft (9.1 m)
Loaded weight: 400,000 lb (180,000 kg)
Powerplant: 8× Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major radial engines, 3,000 hp (2,240 kW) each
Propellers: 8 x four-bladed Hamilton Standard, diameter 17 ft 2 in (5.23 m) each
Performance
Cruise speed: 220 mph (353.98 km/h)
Range: 3,000 mi (4,800 km)
Service ceiling 20,900 ft (6,370 m)
Projected endurance (cruise): 20.9 hrs

The wingspan runs 19' wider than a football field! That tail stands 8 stories high! Seeing it, even in the crowded environment of the museum is a WOW! experience.

Firefighters with extinguishers were stationed at each of the eight engines inside the wings because the engineers truly believed the engines could set the wings on fire.

One of the more interesting pairings finds a Douglas Aircraft DC-3 (also known as the C-47 in its military garb as seen in the photo above) displayed beneath the wing of the “Goose”. Its shiny silver rudder can be seen near the center of this panoramic photo.


Furthering my attempt to provide perspective, the pontoons hanging from the wings are as large as our first Sea Ray cabin cruiser and the tail of this giant soars 8 stories above the floor of the museum. Below is a photo of a display showing silhouettes of the “Goose” overlaid on that of a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. Note that the 747 are slightly longer but that of the flying boat dwarfs its wingspan.


In the collection of the Museum are both warbirds and civilian aircraft of note. An original Piper Cub Cadet hangs off the port wingtip of the “Goose”.

Many, if not most of the planes are in flying condition. There are examples of everything from the very first jet-powered planes to an SR-71 “Blackbird” spyplane that sits beneath the starboard wing.

The entire display, understandably crowded, is worth seeing if, for no other reason, to simply be awed by the sheer size of the “Goose”. Visitors are allowed inside the fuselage but the flight deck is off limits. The view of the interior is amazing. The catwalk to the tail seems to stretch for a city block. The wooden structure is also clearly visible.

So, rather than race through the entire State of Oregon on Interstate 5 or remain completely on the coast, a detour to McMinnville to visit the Evergreen Aviation Air Museum is well worth the trip. You may even see a 747 that has been converted to an aerial tanker for use on wildfires. The DC-10 currently in use is large but the 747 are bigger and holds more retardant. At this writing I do not believe it has been certified by the Department of the Interior for actual fire deployment yet.

Here are a few more pictures of some of the other planes in the collection:

A WWII Navy divebomber.

A German WWII Messerschmidt ME-109 fighter/bomber