Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum is an Aviation Buffs Dream Destination

Clemens Vaster137/Wikimedia Commons

The plane is the museums main attraction and shares its space with a multitude of other aviation exhibits.

The Hughes H-4 Hercules, better known as the Spruce Goose is housed in a huge exhibit hall at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum located in McMinnville, Oregon. The winning bid for this plane happened in 1991. It was a big win for the Evergreen Museum and Oregon aviation buffs. But it didn’t come without a price. Part of the deal to secure this aircraft was that a new exhibit hall had to be constructed specifically for the plane. It took ten years for the exhibit hall to be completed. In 2001 and the plane was finally able to be moved to its new home.

If you’ve never seen the Spruce Goose in person, believe me, pictures and film reels don’t give a true impression of how massive this airplane is. Its size dwarfs the rest of the items on display in the same building. The layout of this massive building takes into account the planes size. Care was taken to insure it didn’t cause a distraction to the rest of the exhibits.

One nice feature is that you can actually enter the aircraft for a close-up view of the fuselage.

If you have the money and want to expand your tour of the Spruce Goose, you can take a special tour of the flight deck. This tour gives you the opportunity to sit in the pilots seat. To some, this would be the thrill of a lifetime. But to put it mildly, the extra expense is reserved for those who can most afford it.