Evergreen Aviation Museum Visit, McMinville, OR - May 26, 2011

Evergreen Aviation Museum

www.evergreenmuseum.org

Photos from our visit

Evergreen Aviation Museum is the theme park of aviation museums, literally, with a new water park opening in June. I really wanted to ride the slide out of the 747 emergency exit! Maybe next time.

The museum is really the spirit of the founder of Evergreen International Airlines, Delford M. Smith and his son, Captain Michael King Smith. It grew out of their personal collection of warbirds. With the tragic death of Captain Smith in an automobile accident in 1995 the museum has become a sort of memorial in his memory.

The attention to detail at this museum is amazing and the whole place is shiny as new. You can see in many of my photographs that the planes reflect in the glossy floor. The light is much better here then at the Dayton Air Force Museum so the planes photograph well. There are also many volunteers giving tours or available to answer questions. Shelby and I paid our $4 each to go in the B-17G and one gentleman took us inside the plane and showed us around and then another gave us a tour of the outside pointing out details. We probably spent half an hour poking around this plane. I've been in B-17s before at air shows for more money and with less time to spend inside due to the crowds. This time it felt like we had a personal tour and were free to spend as much time in the plane as we wanted to.

The center of the main hangar is taken up by the H-4 Hercules, or Spruce Goose, and there are probably 100 or so other aircraft place around or hanging above this plane. It is huge of course - the span of the elevator is longer then the wingspan of the B-17. It is really great to walk around and inside this behemoth and the concept of making something this size out of mostly birch plywood is almost unimaginable.

Overall it is a fantastic selection of aircraft that look like they are factory new. In addition to the aircraft museum there is a new and growing space and rocket collection in its own new building and an iMax theater as well. Surrounding the museum is a vineyard with the some of the resulting wines bottled under the Spruce Goose label. This place ended up being one of the most fun and friendly museums we have visited yet on this trip.