The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum is an aviation museum which displays a number of military and civilian aircraft and spacecraft, most notably, the Hughes H-4 Hercules Spruce Goose. The museum is located in McMinnville, Oregon, across the street from the former headquarters of Evergreen International Aviation. Oregon Route 18 separates the museum from the company operations and McMinnville Municipal Airport (KMMV). An IMAX theater opened in 2007, and a second exhibit hall focusing on the Titan II ICBM and space technology opened in 2008.
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History
First envisioned by Capt. Michael King Smith, son of Evergreen International Aviation founder Delford Smith, the museum began with a small collection of vintage aircraft in a hangar at headquarters and was called the Evergreen Museum. In March 1990, the Disney Corporation, which owned the Spruce Goose, announced that it was closing its exhibit located in Long Beach, California. The Aeroclub of Southern California was notified and they immediately began the search for a new home for the Spruce Goose. In 1992, the Evergreen Museum won the bid with a proposal to build a museum around the aircraft and feature it as a central exhibit.
The disassembly of the aircraft began in August 1992. The plane was disassembled and sent by ship up the Pacific Ocean, Columbia River, and Willamette River to Dayton where it was transferred to trucks and driven to Evergreen International Aviation. It arrived in February 1993.
For the next eight years, the plane went through detailed restoration. Volunteers removed all the paint, replaced worn parts, and repainted the entire aircraft, among many other tasks.
In September 2000, the main aircraft assemblies were complete. The fuselage, wings, and tail were transported across the highway and into the new museum building, still under construction. For the next year, crews spent their time assembling the wings and tail to the fuselage. These were completed in time for the museum's opening on June 6, 2001. The control surfaces (flaps, ailerons, rudder, and elevators) were assembled later. The last piece was put into place on December 7, 2001.
The name of the museum has evolved: Initially known as the Evergreen Museum, it changed in 1994 to the Evergreen AirVenture Museum. In 1997, the facility was renamed the Captain Michael King Smith Evergreen Aviation Educational Center in memory of Captain Smith, who died in an automobile accident in March 1995.
Work began on the space museum building in September 2006 which is identical to the aviation museum. It was completed in May 2008 and had its grand opening on June 6, 2008, exactly seven years after the aviation museum had its grand opening. In 2009 the museum became an affiliate in the Smithsonian Affiliations program.
A key component of the museum are the many volunteers that work there. Many are former aviators who flew the planes on display. Their detailed descriptions and real life commentary help bring the planes and their days of flight back to life. The museum also offers a number of film presentations on the development and use of the aircraft, along with hands-on displays demonstrating various principles of avionics.
An F-15 Eagle displayed on a pedestal in front of the EIA headquarters across the highway from the museum and a bronze statue on the pathway between the aviation and space museum are in memory of Captain Michael K. Smith.
As of June 2008, two exhibit centers were open to the public: The primary structure is the aviation center with the Spruce Goose as centerpiece. The space flight center holds a Titan II missile as its centerpiece, along with the SR-71 Blackbird. The Titan II sits upright in a specially constructed display extending two stories below the floor, silo fashion. The exhibit includes a re-created missile control room furnished with furniture and equipment donated from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Flight simulators for landing the space shuttle as well as for docking a Gemini capsule and performing a moon landing of the Lunar Excursion Module are visitor interactive. Attempts to obtain a retired Space Shuttle were unsuccessful.
A smaller building has a seven story IMAX theater. A radio control air flight field is located behind the aviation center, near a group of Soviet built armored vehicles, including two T-34/85s, a T-55 and two armored personnel carriers.
In early 2016, the Michael King Smith Foundation announced they were filing for bankruptcy. According to reports, the campus was acquired by Steve Down for $10.9 million in July of 2016.
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Wings and Waves Waterpark
Evergreen Wings & Waves Waterpark opened June 6, 2011. The 71,350-square-foot (6,629 m2) waterpark, Oregon's largest, features 10 slides and a 91,703-gallon wave pool with the intent of tying into the educational focus of the Evergreen Museum Campus with its "Life Needs Water" interactive display in the H2O Children's Science Center. The four big slides begin inside a retired Boeing 747-100 that sits atop the roof, 62 feet (19 m) above the splash landing.
Future plans for Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum include an 84-room hotel with restaurant.
Key holdings
- Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress AAF Ser. No. 44-83785
- Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
- de Havilland D.H.-100 Vampire Mk.52
- Douglas A-1 Skyraider
- Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
- Douglas C-47
- Douglas DC-3A
- Foton-6 Space Capsule
- Unmanned version of the Vostok spacecraft (Russian space capsule)
- Grumman F6F-3N Hellcat BuNo 41476 (this aircraft is no longer at the museum, it is currently part of the Collings Foundation)
- Grumman TF-9J Cougar
- Hughes H-4 Hercules
- This is the famous Spruce Goose, a flying boat with the largest wingspan of any aircraft ever built.
- Lockheed P-38 Lightning
- One of the few remaining flyable P38's, this plane was acquired by the Collins Foundation and left the museum grounds in May, 2017, to join the Collins exhibition group of WWII aircraft.
- North American T-39 Sabreliner
- Donated to the museum in January 2013, Rockwell Collins' 1964 Sabreliner Model 50 (tail number N50CR), acquired by the company in 1976 was utilized for many significant flight-test projects that helped shape modern commercial and military avionics. The aircraft was flown approximately 8,000 hours with more than 5,000 landings.
- Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird
- This Blackbird was one of three that were reactivated and used by NASA and the USAF in 1995. Its last flight was February 1, 1996.
- Martin Titan II SLV Space Launch Vehicle
- This particular missile is the last of 14 Titan IIs that were selected to be converted and used for science, weather and military satellites. This was the only one out of the 14 not to be launched. It also holds the distinction of being the last Titan-II ICBM fabricated. Serial Number 66-4319 or B-108, the final of 108 Titan-II ICBMs produced. The exhibit includes the Titan II launch control center equipment used in California for launching the Titan II.
- Titan IV One of only two remaining Titan IV launch vehicles in existence is on outdoor display at the museum. The exhibit includes the core stages for Titan IVB #K-40 and some parts for the solid rocket motors.
- McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle
- This aircraft is displayed on a pedestal at the Evergreen headquarters in memory of the late Capt Michael King Smith, USAF / OR ANG, son of Evergreen International founder Delford "Del" Smith
- McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
- Mercury Space Capsule
- Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10/U-4 610937
- This is one of very few Bf-109s that is capable of flying in its current condition.
- Messerschmitt 262 (Reproduction by Legend Flyers)
- Mikoyan i Guryevich MiG-17A "Fresco" (true Russian version)
- MiG-21 Mikoyan i Guryevich MiG-21MF "Fishbed-J"
- Mikoyan Guryevich MiG-29 "Fulcrum"
- NASA X-38 V-131R
- Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XVI
Also on display are many different aircraft engines.
The exhibit also includes many helicopters, reflecting Evergreen Aviation's original helicopter fleet.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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