quick facts - evergreen aviation & space museum · “spruce goose” world’s largest...

EVERGREEN AVIATION & SPACE MUSEUM TIMELINE

QUICK FACTSMission Statement:

To inspire and educate, to promote and preserve aviation and space history, and to honor the patriotic service of our veterans.

Total Number of Aircraft/Spacecraft/Exhibits:150

Number of Volunteers:More than 300

Number of Museum Members:More than 3,000

Contact Information:500 NE Captain Michael King Smith WayMcMinnville, OR 97128503-434-4180

**If traveling by GPS, please use this address: 3685 NE Three Mile Lane, McMinnville, OR 97128

Location:3.5 miles southeast of McMinnville, Oregon, on Highway 18, across from the McMinnville Municipal Airport.

Website and Social Networking:www.EvergreenMuseum.orgwww.EvergreenMuseum.wordpress.orgwww.twitter.com/EvergreenMuseumwww.facebook.com/EvergreenMuseum

Grand Openings: June 2001: Evergreen Aviation Museum opened in its current location. March 2007: Evergreen IMAX® Theater opened. June 2008: Evergreen Space Museum opened. Summer 2011: Evergreen Water Park anticipated opening.

Non Profit Status:The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum and IMAX Theater is a 501(c)3 Oregon Nonprofit Institution. The Museum is funded by proceeds from memberships, events, gift stores, grants, donations and admissions. IMAX® is a registered trademark of IMAX Corporation.

1991

Evergreen Museum is incorporated.

1992

Aero Club of Southern California names Museum the Spruce Goose custodian.

1993

Spruce Goose arrives in McMinnville.


CAPTAIN MICHAEL KING SMITH(1966-1995)

When someone is committed to achieving the goal of excellence, it shows in everything he or she does. A McMinnville High School graduate, Michael King Smith showed himself to be a leader early in life, whether it was as a varsity athlete, an honor student or senior class president. He also attained the rank of Eagle Scout, became an accomplished musician and earned his pilot’s license at age 16.

Smith graduated from the University of Washington and became a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. He received his Air Force wings and finished first in his class with accolades, including the Commander’s Trophy, the Distinguished Graduate Award and the Flying Excellence Award. He then graduated from Fighter Lead-In training and the F-15 RTU before flying with the 123rd Fighter Squadron Oregon Air National Guard as a pilot and flight lead.

Outside military flying, Smith was the president of Evergreen Ventures, Inc, founder of the Evergreen-Doe Humane Society and Quality Aviation Services, and board member of the Valley Community Bank.

Smith’s greatest accomplishment was the co-founding of the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. With a passion for aviation and a desire to inspire others, he set out to create a new kind of learning center; where people could follow their dreams and experience aviation history. When he learned that the Disney Corporation was discontinuing the Hughes H-4 Flying Boat exhibition, Smith developed a proposal to make it the centerpiece of the Museum, which was selected for implementation in July 1990.

Smith lost his life in an auto accident in 1995, but due to his uncommon vision, the Museum he began has become a world-class facility. For visitors, it inspires and educates, preserves the history of aviation and spaceflight, and honors the patriotic service of veterans; just as Captain Michael King Smith envisioned decades before.

1994

Museum’s name changed to Evergreen AirVenture Museum.

1995

Captain Michael King Smith tragically dies in car accident.

1997

Construction of new Museum building is approved. Name of Museum changed to The Captain Michael King Smith Evergreen Aviation Educational Center.


“SPRUCE GOOSE”World’s Largest Aircraft:

As the largest airplane ever constructed, and flown only one time on November 2, 1947, the Hughes Flying Boat represents one of man’s greatest attempts to conquer the skies. The single hull prototype was built as a personnel and material carrier. The aircraft was designed to fly trans-Atlantic to avoid the World War II German submarines that were sinking Allied ships.

To produce the giant, Howard Hughes and his staff worked from 1942 to 1947, spending $18 million federal dollars and $7 million of Hughes’ own money. Henry Kaiser, steel magnate and “Liberty” shipbuilder, conceived the idea of massive flying transports, and turned to Howard Hughes for aviation expertise. Hughes took on the mammoth task, along with the government mandate not to use materials critical to the war effort (such as steel and aluminum). Nearly six times bigger than any aircraft, the Flying Boat is made out of wood.

Completed in 1947 after the end of World War II, the winged giant made only one flight. The unannounced decision to fly was made by the pilot, Hughes himself, during a taxi test. The flight went only a little over a mile at an altitude of 70 feet for approximately one minute. But, the short hop proved to skeptics that the gigantic machine could, indeed, fly.

The Names:Originally designated HK-1 for the first aircraft built by Hughes-Kaiser, the giant was re-designated H-4 for Hughes’ fourth aircraft, when Henry Kaiser withdrew from the project in 1944. Other names include “Hercules,” which was awarded after a company contest, and the “Flying Lumberyard,” a somewhat derogatory term. A 1946 issue of Flying Magazine settled on the less critical nickname, “Wooden Wonder.”

The press insisted on calling the Hughes Flying Boat the “Spruce Goose,” a name that Hughes despised. The funny thing about the nickname is that most of the huge plane is actually made of birch, with only small amounts of maple, poplar, balsa, and, yes, spruce. Birch was chosen because testing proved it to be light, strong and resistant to splitting, dry rot and deterioration.

After the Famous Flight:The Hughes Flying Boat went into hibernation after its famous flight. Stored away in its special hangar, it was out of the public eye for 33 years. All the time, Hughes kept the plane in immaculate shape and ready to fly. It was rumored that it cost Hughes $1 million per year to preserve the aircraft.

After Hughes’ death in 1976, it appeared that the Hughes Flying Boat was to be disassembled. The giant plane was saved by entrepreneur Jack Wrather, who moved it into a massive domed hangar next to the famous ocean liner, the Queen Mary, in Long Beach, Calif. Beginning in 1983, the plane was put on public display. In 1988, the Wrather Corporation was bought by

1999

Workers break ground on new facility.

2000

Spruce Goose crosses Highway 18 to new facility.

2001

Museum renamed Evergreen Aviation Museum.


The Walt Disney Company. Disney did not see the plane in its future plans, so the search was on to find a new home for the aircraft.

Captain Michael King Smith, the Museum’s founder and son of Evergreen International Aviation founder, Delford M. Smith, submitted the winning proposal to provide the aviation icon with a proper home. In 1992, the Hughes Flying Boat was disassembled and transported by barge up the West Coast, then up the Columbia and Willamette Rivers to Portland, Ore. It remained in the Portland area for several months, until the Willamette River’s water levels permitted the huge structures to safely pass under the river’s many bridges.

In February 1993, the huge parts of the aircraft were transported by truck for the last 7.5 miles to McMinnville, Ore. Temporary hangars were built as housing for the aircraft, and volunteers began work on the aircrafts’ exterior restoration. In 2001, assembly of the Hughes Flying Boat was completed in its new Museum home.

2001

New Museum facility opens. Assembly of Spruce Goose continues through the year, concluding on Dec. 7. Museum has 25 historic aircraft and exhibits.

2003

Museum adds Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird to collection, which totals more than 50 historic aircraft.

2004

Workers break ground on Evergreen IMAX 3D Theater.


IMAX®

Quick Facts• In an IMAX projector, the film moves horizontally rather than vertically, at 24 frames per second, 336.6 feet per minute.

• The soundtrack is separate from the film. It arrives on a DVD and is transferred to a computer that maintains the data in solid-state storage.

• The audience hears the sound through a digital surround sound system that has up to six channels and 14,000 watts.

• The height of the screen can be as much as 90 feet. That’s the equivalent of eight elephants on top of each other!

• An IMAX screen is 4,500 times bigger than an average TV screen.

• Light from the 15,000-watt lamp in an IMAX projector is so bright that if it were on the moon we could see it on Earth with the naked eye.

• An IMAX film frame is 15 sprocket perforations wide by 70 millimeters high—the largest motion picture film in use today and 10 times the size of regular 35mm frame.

• There are millions of tiny holes in the IMAX screen to allow the sound to travel through it.

• The IMAX 3D screen is covered with a special silver paint that reflects more than two times the amount of light as a regular movie screen.

• The IMAX 3D projector actually projects two separate images onto the screen and special polarized 3D glasses allow your brain to fuse the two images together to make a single, pristine, larger-than-life three-dimensional image.

• The 3D images in an IMAX theater will reach out at you no matter where you sit, making every seat the best seat in the house.

2006

Museum becomes a member of Association of Science-Technology Centers. Has more than 80 historic aircraft and exhibits.

2007

Evergreen IMAX 3D Theater opens.

2008

Museum renamed Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.


TITAN IIThe development of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) was the single greatest catalyst of the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

As the Cold War enemies stared each other down across the “Iron Curtain,” they recalled the destructive lessons learned from World War II. Bombers could be shot down by fighters and anti-aircraft fire, but the missile remained unstoppable.

Both sides began to build missiles that could be launched at a moment’s notice and deliver a knockout blow to the opponent using a nuclear warhead. To carry the large, heavy nuclear weapons over intercontinental distances, the missiles had to be extremely powerful. The ability to boost heavy payloads made them the perfect vehicles for launching capsules carrying humans into space. For the Russians, the R-7 missile, derived from the SS-6 Sapwood ICBM, was the basis for all their space launch vehicles, including the Sputnik, Vostok, Voskhod and Soyuz. On the American side, it was the Redstone, Atlas and Titan that would carry the load in both war and peace.

Of the U.S. missiles, the Titan was the largest and most powerful of the group, and featured two stages with liquid fuel engines. The first version, the Titan I, was a silo-based ICBM built by the Glenn L. Martin Company that required fueling and being raised to the surface before it was launched. Needing a faster response time, the U.S. Air Force asked Martin to develop the Titan II, which could be kept fueled for long periods of time and would be ready to launch from the silo at the push of a button. This highly capable rocket was chosen to carry the two-man Gemini spacecraft into orbit.

The Titan II on display is the last variant of the Titan II family, the Space Launch Vehicle (SLV). On these missiles, the nuclear warhead was removed and a new fairing was adapted that could carry a satellite into orbit, or in one case, the Clementine, an unmanned space probe to the moon. A total of 14 Titan IIs were converted to this role by Martin-Marietta, and all but the Museum’s were used to launch satellites. Lacking a customer that required the Titan’s lifting capacity, the missile was retired and turned over to the National Museum of the United States Air Force, who in turn loaned it to the Museum.

The Museum’s Titan II is displayed in a launch position, with the white satellite fairing at its top. Down below, visitors can experience the control room that was used for the Titan II launches at Vandenburg Air Force Base, California. Complete down to the floor tiles, the control room allows visitors to experience the last flight of a Titan II, which took place on October 17, 2003. It was gifted to the Museum by the Lockheed-Martin company.

2008

Evergreen Space Museum opens. Museum has more than 150 aircraft and exhibits on display.

2009

Museum becomes an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute.

2009

The Captain Michael King Smith Firearms Collection opens.


FIREARMS COLLECTIONThe Captain Michael King Smith Firearms Collection

In 2009, the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum opened the Captain Michael King Smith Firearms Collection, a new exhibit located on the Aviation Museum mezzanine. This world-class collection of firearms from every era of American history occupies 18 cases and 4,000 square feet, overlooking Howard Hughes’ massive Spruce Goose.

The Collection is brought to life by seven large-scale dioramas depicting Lewis and Clark’s arrival at the Oregon coast, Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders at San Juan Hill, the Wild West, World War II in the Pacific, World War II over Europe, a 1950s boy’s room and a sport hunting scene with a father and his son.

The Collection also includes a display on the Second Amendment, which illustrates how these artifacts are literally woven into the fabric of America from as far back as the founding fathers and the framers of our U.S. Constitution.

The National Firearms Museum in Fairfax, Virginia assisted the Museum in the preparation of the Collection in order to insure that only the finest, historically accurate artifacts are put on display for the public. Whether you are a firearm aficionado, an avid hunter, a history buff, a student or simply an interested onlooker, you will find something of interest in this tasteful tribute to the role that firearms have played in the rich history of the United States.

2009

Workers break ground on new Evergreen Water Park.

EXPLORE EVERGREEN AVIATION & SPACE MUSEUM

“There is no sport equal to that which aviators enjoy while being carried through the air on great white wings.— Wilbur Wright, 1905.

AIRCRAFTFixed Wing

Aviat Christen Eagle II •

Beech Starship 2000A

Beechcraft Bonanza 35

Beechcraft D17A Staggerwing

Beechcraft T-34B Mentor

Blériot XI Racer •

Boeing 747-100

Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress

Boeing Stearman Model 75 Kaydet

Convair F-102A Delta Dagger

Convair F-106A Delta Dart

Curtiss Robin B

Curtis CW-A-22 Falcon

Curtiss JN-4 Jenny (Canuck) •

Curtis Model D “Headless” Pusher •

Curtis P-40K Warhawk

de Havilland DH-4M-1

de Havilland D.H 100 Vampire FB.9

Douglas AD-5N Skyraider

Douglas A-4E Skyhawk

Douglas A-26C Invader

Douglas C-47A Dakota

Douglas DC-3A

Fairchild PT-19A

Fokker Dr.1 Triplane •

Ford Tri-Motor 5AT-B

General Motors TBM-3E Avenger

Goodyear FG-1D Corsair

Granville Brothers (Gee Bee) E Sportster •

Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat

Grumman F-14D Super Tomcat

Grumman OV-1D Mohawk

Grumman TF-9J Cougar

Handley Raven

Hughes HK-1 (H-4) Flying Boat Spruce Goose

Insitu A-20 ScanEagle

Israeli Aircraft Industries Mazlat Mastiff III

Lancair 360 •

Learjet 24

Lockheed GTD-21B Drone

Lockheed P2V-5 Neptune

Lockheed P-38L Lightning

Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird

Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star

McDonnell KDD-1 Katydid Drone

McDonnell Douglas F-4C Phantom II

McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle •

Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10 Gustav

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI Midget

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17A Fresco

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21MF Fishbed-J

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum A

Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-3 Canary

Nieuport 11 Bébé •

North American F-100F Super Sabre

North American FJ-3 Fury

North American P-51D Mustang

North American SNJ-4 (T-6) Texan

North American T-2C Buckeye

North American X-15 •

Northrop F-5E Tiger II

Northrop T-38A Talon

Oldfield Baby Great Lakes •

Piper J-3 Cub

Piper L-4H Grasshopper

Pitts S-2B Special

Republic RC-3 Seabee

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak

Republic F-105G Thunderchief

Ryan PT-22 Recruit

Schweizer SGS 2-32

Sopwith Camel F.1 •

Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XVI

Thorp T-18 3BF Tiger •

Vought A-7D Corsair II

Wright 1903 Flyer •

Yakovlev Yak 50

As of October 2009

Rotary WingBell AH-1F Cobra

Bell HTL-3

Bell OH-13E Sioux

Bell UH-1H Iroquois

Hiller H-23B Raven

Hiller UH-12E3 Raven

Hughes 269A Osage

Hughes 500D

Kaman SH-2F Seasprite

Sikorsky H-19A Chickasaw

Sikorsky HO3S-1G Dragonfly

Sikorsky UH-3H Sea King

• Replica • Homebuilt • Mock Up • Located Southside of Hwy 18

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“What is it that makes a man willing to sit up on top of an enormous Roman candle, such as a Redstone, Atlas, Titan or Saturn rocket, and wait for someone to light the fuse?

— Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff, 1979.

SPACE ARTIFACTSApollo Command Module •

Saturn V Instrument Ring

Rocketdyne H-1 Engine

Rocketdyne J-2 Engine

Rocketdyne RL-10 Engine

Baker-Nunn Tracking Camera

Gemini Spacecraft •

Aerojet General XLR-78 Engine

Aerojet XLR-87 Engine

Goddard 1926 Liquid Fuel Rocket •

Gorgon 2A Air to Air Missile

Grumman Lunar Module •

Lunakhood 1 •

Lunar Roving Vehicle •

Mercury Spacecraft (Serial #10)

Rocketdyne S-3 Engine

Photon Capsule

RD-107 Rocket Engine

Redstone Missile

Republic Loon Missile

Sergeant Missile

Skylab Airlock Trainer

Sputnik 1 Satellite

Syncom A Satellite

Titan II SLV Launch Vehicle

Titan IV Launch Vehicle

V-2 Missile •

V-2 Missile Combustion Chamber Loan

Vega Space Probe •

X-38 Crew Return Vehicle

As of October 2009• Replica

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“The airplane is just a bunch of sticks and wires and cloth, a tool for learning about the sky and about what kind of person I am, when I fly. An airplane stands for freedom, for joy, for the power to understand, and to demonstrate that understanding. Those things aren’t destructible.

— Richard Bach, Nothing by Chance, 1963.

MEDIA PHOTO LIST

IMAGE 1:The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum is home to the Spruce Goose and more than 150 other historic aircraft, spacecraft and exhibits.

Photo Credit: Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

IMAGE 3:Nestled in the middle of wine country, the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum is home to the Spruce Goose and more than 150 other historic aircraft, spacecraft and exhibits.


IMAGE 2:Beautifully illuminated at dawn, the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum is home to the Spruce Goose and more than 150 other historic aircraft, spacecraft and exhibits.


IMAGE 4:Serving as the centerpiece of the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, the Spruce Goose is the largest flying boat ever built.


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IMAGE 5:With a wingspan of nearly 320 feet and a length of 218 feet, the Spruce Goose dwarfs any other Museum aircraft.


IMAGE 7:The Evergreen IMAX® Theater features state of the art 3D technology, where images appear eight stories high. With a 12,000-watt digital sound system, six audio channels and 44 speakers, Evergreen’s IMAX® Theater is the largest in the state of Oregon.


IMAGE 6:With a wingspan of nearly 320 feet and a length of 218 feet, the Spruce Goose dwarfs any other Museum aircraft.


IMAGE 8:Since its grand opening in June 2008, the Evergreen Space Museum has steadily increased the number of exhibits and artifacts it contains. The Evergreen Museum campus is now home to more than 150 historic aviation and space related aircraft and exhibits.


”The modern airplane creates a new geographical dimension. A navigable ocean of air blankets the whole surface of the globe. There are no distant places any longer: the world is small and the world is one.

— Wendell Willkie


“To invent an airplane is nothing. To build one is something. To fly is everything.— Otto Lilienthal

IMAGE 9:The new Evergreen Space Museum is home to the SR-71 Blackbird and Titan II SLV Missile. Since its grand opening in June 2008, the Evergreen Space Museum has steadily increased the number of exhibits and artifacts it contains. The Evergreen Museum campus is now home to more than 150 historic aviation and space related aircraft and exhibits.


IMAGE 11:The Mercury 10 capsule is one of many space-related artifacts in the Evergreen Space Museum, which opened in June 2008.


IMAGE 10:The Titan II SLV Missile is the centerpiece of the Evergreen Space Museum, which opened in June 2008. The Titan II exhibit includes an exact replica of the Vandenberg Air Force Base launch room, with a mock launch sequence.


IMAGE 12:The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum has an extensive educational curriculum, which features book clubs, outreach programs, scholarships, Boy Scout merit programs and tours.


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“To most people, the sky is the limit. To those who love aviation, the sky is home.— Anonymous

IMAGE 13:The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum hosts various events throughout the year, including balloon rallies, weddings, receptions, reunions and company parties.


IMAGE 14:Captain Michael King Smith, son of Evergreen International Aviation founder, Delford M. Smith, made considerable contributions to aviation in Oregon.


IMAGE 15:The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum hosts various events throughout the year, including balloon rallies, weddings, receptions, reunions and company parties.


IMAGE 16:Howard Hughes flew the Spruce Goose on Nov. 12, 1947 for a mile at an altitude of 70 feet, along the Long Beach, Calif. waterfront.


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