Spruce Goose

[RobertJ.]

This is a pretty big plane!

It resides at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. I spent a couple hours here this morning, it's about two hours from where I live. Lots of other cool stuff to see, too. Last time I was here, it was less than half the size it is now, with far fewer aircraft. Also, last time you couldn't actually go into the Goose. I took photos of the interior, but I was shooting through plexiglass, and I wasn't happy with them.

 

[ancient-one]

I would sure like to look at all of those aircraft. Very interesting.

 

[loknload]

The Spruce Goose was quite an aircraft. I was able to see it and go onboard when it was down in California with the Queen Mary.
I enjoyed visiting both.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Cool plane. Reminds me of those huge Russian ground-effect Lun-class ekranoplan.

The Spruce Goose's designer/builder, Howard Hughes, was apparently a good man to work for. When I went to Hughes Aircraft El Segundo to work a contract assignment, my coworkers had glowing affection for him. Seems everyone had tales of him doing the right thing for his people, and that made for an impressively dedicated group.

 

[Absalom]

The Evergreen Museum has actually lost a few of its more impressive aircraft over the last couple of years, like the B-17G and the P-38, due to some financial difficulties.

But one of my favorites is still there: a DeHavilland Vampire, an early British jet from the 1940s, this one formerly of the Indian Air Force. It has the most charmingly straightforward emergency instructions; we don’t mess with complicated stuff like opening the canopy

There are also Russian tanks parked outside.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Hughes' home outside Las Vegas is a great visit. I've not seen "the goose" and as an air traffic controller that's one bird I'd love to have told where to go.

Thanks for the terrific images of that historic beast.

 

[BC38]

We went to the Spruce Goose museum in McMinnville about 10 years ago. Pretty impressive. I'd like to go again sometime.

 

[ParadiseRoad]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oEXWvi_tP8[/ame]

 

[klondike]

I was there when I believe they had the B17 parked under the Goose. I was having trouble grasping the scale of it until I realized that the tiny plane underneath was that B17.
Great museum.

 

[chief38]

I would have loved to witness the look on the faces of all the Politicians who wanted to disgrace Howard Hughes and his plane!

 

[RobertJ.]

I was there when I believe they had the B17 parked under the Goose. I was having trouble grasping the scale of it until I realized that the tiny plane underneath was that B17.
Great museum.

My first time there, the B17 was parked near the tail of the Goose. The 17's wingspan was smaller than that of the Goose's tail!

One of the first things I noticed was the absence of the B17.

Here are a couple other interesting displays:

 

[Firesticks]

Been there. From the outside it is impressive. When I walked inside it was doubly impressive. You would THINK there was no way that thing could have caught air. Amazing. They had my favorite plane of all time there also. THEEEEEE SR-71. Many things still classified about it. The original stealth, missile evading, electronics surveillance machine! Pretty much had free reign of the sky.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Who needs aluminum?

 

[Absalom]

One of the first things I noticed was the absence of the B17.

It was a sad day when the B-17 left; I actually watched it fly away. The sound of the four radial engines was something else.

The plane was a real highlight, and tours of the plane’s inside were offered when enough docents were available (Except for the money handlers, the entire public-contact staff of the museum is made up of volunteers, many of them veterans or retired pilots).

Until a few years ago, one of the B-17 docents was Col. Russell Barney, USAF (ret). He just passed away this year at age 96. He flew the B-17 over Germany during WW II and gave presentations about it.

When I watched him for the first time and saw the slide with the list of his missions, I discovered my hometown on it. Twice. Col. Barney was a real gentleman, and when I mentioned this to him afterward, he felt quite bad about it. I reassured him that this was war, we started it, my folks didn’t move there until after the war, and I wasn’t born yet, so he shouldn’t worry

 

[S&W Fan]

The Spruce Goose was quite an aircraft. I was able to see it and go onboard when it was down in California with the Queen Mary.
I enjoyed visiting both.

As did I, must've been around '86/'87.

 

[ParadiseRoad]

Who needs aluminum?

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeetQ2e6qkg[/ame]

 

[Gamecock]

Check out the Tillamook air museum if you get a chance.

 

[Kurusu]

The Evergreen Museum has actually lost a few of its more impressive aircraft over the last couple of years, like the B-17G and the P-38, due to some financial difficulties.

But one of my favorites is still there: a DeHavilland Vampire, an early British jet from the 1940s, this one formerly of the Indian Air Force. It has the most charmingly straightforward emergency instructions; we don’t mess with complicated stuff like opening the canopy

There are also Russian tanks parked outside.

Maybe the Vampire would not be such a favorite if you had to bail out of one before Martin-Bakers were installed.

 

[Watchdog]

Here are a couple other interesting displays:

Imagine what could have happened if Hitler's designers and scientists had maybe a year longer, or maybe just six months, to pefect the ME-109? The best we had at the time was the P-51 Mustang.

Then again, maybe nothing. Their resources had been mostly decimated...bearings, fuel, lubricants, steel for parts, etc.

Have to admit, though, it's a seriously beautiful and beautifully designed warplane.

 

[Absalom]

Maybe the Vampire would not be such a favorite if you had to bail out of one before Martin-Bakers were installed.

Indeed. It had no in-flight engine re-start procedure either, and no chance to survive a water landing. If you lost the engine, you basically rode it down.

I like it mostly because it starred in one of my favorite aviation stories, Frederick Forsyth’s “The Shepherd”.

 

[Absalom]

Imagine what could have happened if Hitler's designers and scientists had maybe a year longer, or maybe just six months, to pefect the ME-109? The best we had at the time was the P-51 Mustang.

Then again, maybe nothing. Their resources had been mostly decimated...bearings, fuel, lubricants, steel for parts, etc.

Have to admit, though, it's a seriously beautiful and beautifully designed warplane.

Probably a typo on your part, but that’s a Me-262, or rather, a full-scale non-flyable replica of one.

It came down to the question of resources, of the availability of qualified pilots (a number of 262’s crashed on take-off because the pilots simply weren’t up to handling them anymore), and the larger question how much difference the strategic air offensive actually made, and whether more severe damage to the bomber streams would really have decisively affected facts on the ground. I doubt that.

 

[vt_shooter]

The Spruce Goose - yes, it is a big airplane. But it failed at being a functional airplane. The much smaller DC-3 / C47 impresses me much more, because it worked.

 

[RobertJ.]

Check out the Tillamook air museum if you get a chance.

I haven't been to the air museum in Tillmook in years, but it's on my to-do list for this summer. They only had a few aircraft last time I was there, but I heard that it's grown considerably.

This was my grandfather's friend Swede Ralston, flying through one of the blimp hangars in Tillamook, long before it was an air museum:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/dd/2e/dc/dd2edc32745ab8224415d78f2e1bec5f.jpg

 

[RobertJ.]

YouTube

Classic scene from an excellent movie!

 

[Absalom]

I haven't been to the air museum in Tillmook in years, but it's on my to-do list for this summer. They only had a few aircraft last time I was there, but I heard that it's grown considerably.

This was my grandfather's friend Swede Ralston, flying through one of the blimp hangars in Tillamook, long before it was an air museum:
....

Cool picture.

The Tillamook Air Museum lost a big part of its inventory about five years ago when Erickson moved his collection to Madras airport and set up his own display hangar there, which included almost all WW II aircraft that used to be at Tillamook.

Aircraft List | Erickson Aircraft Collection

The high desert climate at Madras is much more conducive to preservation than the moisture-laden “corrosion central” of Tillamook Bay

Of course Tillamook is impressive just for the enormous blimp hangar.