North American Aerospace Museum

Les and Indy took the Jeep over to McMinnville to see the Spruce Goose. Les spent about 3 hours wandering amoung several dozen aircraft, all dwarfed by the Spruce Goose. This is the largest flying seaplane ever built and it is made of WOOD. It was built during WWII, but not finished until after the war. Howard Hughes, millionare and famous test pilot, built it to fly service personel and equipment across the Atlantic to avoid being a target for U Boats. But after the war ended, it was not needed. The Spruce Goose was the only one constructed and was only flown once by Howard Hughes to prove it could fly. He then stored it in a custom build hanger to preserve it. It was taken apart and shipped to McMinnville, OR and reassembled, thus becoming the center piece of the Air and Space Museum.Read more