Ballistics Lightning Psycho

Ballistics Lightning Psycho

Ballistics Lightning Psycho

The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, opened in 2001 in McMinnville, an hour's drive south of Portland, was created specifically to display billionaire Howard Hughes' eight-engine "Spruce Goose," the world's largest wooden aircraft. A prototype for a military troop and cargo aircraft , Hughes flew it only once, on Nov. 2, 1947. The end of World War II also ended the government's contract for the plane, but left intact the world's largest wooden airplane, an engineering marvel.

Home to Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose

Evergreen's original building was specially designed to fit the giant plane's 320-foot wingspan. Under its wings the "Spruce Goose" sheltered many smaller historic aircraft, including a 1928 Ford Tri-Motor, known in its time as "The Tin Goose."

Other aircraft on display include the SR-71 “Blackbird,” the world’s fastest and highest flying “spy” plane, and more than 80 other historic aircraft, including a Grumman F6F-3 “Hellcat,” B-17 “Flying Fortress,” F4U “Corsair,” P-38 “Lightning,” Bf-109 Messerschmitt, TBM “Avenger,” P-40 “Warhawk,” and a replica of the Wright Flyer, the first aircraft to successfully achieve powered flight.