August 23, 2016 Museum Recommendation

It was nearly two hours to reach McMinnville, Oregon, this morning.  We were going to tour the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum.

The Aviation Museum is home to "the Spruce Goose", an all-wooden plane engineered by Howard Hughes in the early 1940's.  The government contracted with H. Hughes to build the plane, but the war ended before the plane was completed.  Completion date was 1947.

Howard Hughes was an eccentric, single-minded person.  It is educational learning about him.

The Spruce Goose was and is the largest all wood plane.  It also still has the widest wing span of any plane built. Even though it was labeled "the Spruce Goose" it actually was built of birch.

The inside of the plane: The beach balls were used as "flotation devices" in the wings in case of a crash.

As much as I tried I couldn't get the entire plane in one frame.  Notice the other planes sitting under the wing of the Spruce Goose.

The wing span is 320' 11"; the length is 218' 8"; height 79' 4"; empty weight 250,000 pounds; powered by eight engines with 3000 HP each; propellor diameter 17'2".

It's purpose was to haul troops and/or equipment to the European theater during WWII.  A full load would have been 750-fully equipped troops or two 30-ton Sherman tanks.  

We also toured the Space Museum.  It is filled with space-related rockets and equipment.

At the theater we I (will only speak for myself) tremendously enjoyed a movie entitled "Fighter Pilot".  

I like this quote!

This "empty table" was in each of the museums.  It is a tribute to fallen comrades.

(Last night at Barjetty RV Park, Rockaway Beach, Oregon)