A Trip To the Evergreen Aviation Museum
Posted on October 27, 2009 by aaronredbaron
When I was in High School I volunteered as a tour guide at the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. At the time the museum had recently acquired Howard Hughes’ famous flying boat, the world’s largest aircraft, the H-4 Hughes Flying Boat AKA “the Spruce Goose.” Since my time volunteering, the museum has grown tremendously. The museum is dedicated to the life and memory of Captain Michael King Smith, who died tragically before his vision of today’s museum could be completed. A longtime friend of mine, Bob Dutton, also volunteered at the museum and joined a group of other Veterans on an excursion to Edwards Air Force Base to disassemble and bring home the SR-71 which now resides in Evergreen’s new space museum. Bob passed away a few years ago after a battle with prostate cancer, and every time I visit the museum I am reminded of the hard work, the history, and the tragic stories behind it all. Perhaps my favorite aspect of the museum is how lumbering beasts of wars long ago settled now reside peacefully side by side.
