The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit, aviation museum in McMinnville, Oregon. Its exhibits include the Hughes H-4 Hercules (Spruce Goose) and more than 150 military and civilian aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), and spacecraft. The museum complex includes three main buildings: the original aviation exhibit hall (West Pavilion), a large screen digital theater, a second exhibit hall (East Pavilion) which includes an SR-71, F-117 Nighthawk, Spacecraft, Helicopters, and modern era fighters.
In March 1990, The Walt Disney Company announced that it would close the Long Beach, California, exhibit of the Spruce Goose. The Aeroclub of Southern California began looking for a new home for the historic aircraft. In 1992, the Evergreen Museum won the bid with a proposal to build a museum around the aircraft and feature it as a central exhibit.[1]
The disassembly of the aircraft began in August 1992. The parts were sent by ship up the Pacific Ocean, Columbia River, and Willamette River to Dayton where it was transferred to trucks and driven to Evergreen International Aviation. It arrived in February 1993.[2] For the next eight years, the plane went through detailed restoration. Volunteers removed all the paint, replaced worn parts, and repainted the entire aircraft, among many other tasks.[3] In September 2000, the main aircraft assemblies were complete. The fuselage, wings, and tail were transported across the highway and into the new museum building, still under construction. Over the next year, crews assembled the wings and tail to the fuselage. These were completed in time for the museum's opening on June 6, 2001. The control surfaces (flaps, ailerons, rudder, and elevators) were assembled later. The last piece was put into place on December 7, 2001.
The name of the museum has evolved. Initially known as the Evergreen Museum, it changed in 1994 to the Evergreen AirVenture Museum. In 1997, the facility was renamed the Captain Michael King Smith Evergreen Aviation Educational Center in memory of Smith, who died in an automobile accident in March 1995. The museum is commonly known as Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.
In September 2006, work began on the space museum building (East Pavilion), a twin to the aviation museum. By this time, the museum had acquired several space-related items, and the original building was running out of room. The new building was completed in May 2008 and had its grand opening on June 6, 2008, exactly seven years after the aviation museum opened.[4] In 2009, the museum became an affiliate in the Smithsonian Affiliations program.[5]
Recovery
In April 2020, The Stoller Group, owner of vineyards in the area and a winery in nearby Dayton, purchased 285 acres (115ha) of land that included a portion of the museum and the water park; the company immediately started repair and renovation work at the museum and water park, and announced plans to expand the 50-acre (20ha) vineyard located on the open greenspace of the grounds.[6]
Note: The Stoller Group does not own or operate the museum, they lease the two museum pavilions and the theater building to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum.
As of 2019[update], two exhibit centers are open to the public: The original structure is the aviation center with the Spruce Goose as centerpiece. Other aircraft, spanning the entire history of aviation, are arranged in the building, some parked under the wings of the Spruce Goose or suspended from the ceiling.[citation needed]
The space flight center is in a building the same size as the aviation center. Because there are fewer space-related holdings, the center includes a large number of panels and other displays that chronicle the history of space flight. Visitors can operate flight simulators for landing the Space Shuttle as well as for docking a Gemini capsule and performing a Moon landing of the Lunar Excursion Module. The building also exhibits overflow holdings from the aviation center, usually the higher-performance jet aircraft.[citation needed]
Two of the main attractions of the space flight center are a Titan II SLV satellite booster rocket and a SR-71 Blackbird.[7] The Titan II sits upright in a specially constructed display extending two stories below the floor, in order to fit the 114 foot tall rocket inside the building. The exhibit includes a re-created Titan II SLV Launch Control Room outfitted with actual furnishings and equipment donated from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
An F-15 Eagle is displayed on a pedestal in front of the former EIA headquarters across the highway from the museum. A bronze statue stands by on the pathway between the aviation and space museum. Both are marked in Smith's memory.[8]
The Museum's theater, The Aerodrome Giant Screen Theater features educational and entertaining 3D Movies about flight, space travel, science, and nature.
Panorama of the museum, taken from under the wing of the Hughes H-4 Hercules
Collection
SR-71 instrument panelAn SR-71 Blackbird under the wing of the Spruce Goose (taken before the SR-71 was moved to the new space building)
Aircraft
Avtek 400A - This one-of-a-kind aircraft was donated to the Evergreen Museum in 2025. It is set to be restored by the museum's restoration shop and volunteers, and is currently torn down.
Beechcraft Model 17 - The 1939 Beechcraft D17A in the museum's collection is the last known surviving example of the model, also being the first D17A model built out of a total of eight. As the only D17A impressed into service in the U.S. Army Air Force in World War 2, it was designated as the only UC-43F, and was used for personnel transport stateside. It is rumored that Winston Churchill flew in this specific model during a fishing trip in Idaho. After the war, and after passing through several owners, the aircraft would be donated to the museum in 2001 by Alan DeBoer, the mayor of Ashland, Oregon.
Bell UH-1 Iroquois - The museum has two Iroquois (nicknamed "Huey") in their collection. The first is a UH-1H, the standard model commonly used for personnel transport in the Vietnam War. This helicopter, serial number 64-13502, was built sometime in the early 1960s. After a severe crash in 1967, it would be overhauled, before serving in Corpus Christi, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona. It would go to the Oregon Army National Guard in 1986, before being retired from service in 1994. It is on loan from/ the U.S. Army TACOM . The second Huey in the museum's collection is a UH-1P, a larger and more powerful model designed for the U.S. Air Force. This specific aircraft served in the 20th Special Operations Squadron, nicknamed the "Green Hornets". The UH-1P Huey is currently under restoration by museum volunteers, and is not on display.
Bell AH-1 Cobra - The aircraft in the museums collection was built as an AH-1G for the U.S. Army and saw combat in Vietnam during 1971 with A-Troop, 7th Squadron of the 1st Air Cavalry. Operation mostly in the 44th Special Tactical Zone near the Cambodian border, the unit was tasked with interdicting supplies and North Vietnamese troops coming into South Vietnam. Postwar, it was returned to the United States and updated to the AH-1S standard with an armored canopy and the capability of launching TOW missiles. It was later modified to an Ah-1F standard with heads-up displays and a laser rangefinder, as it appears in the collection. It is on loan from the U.S. Army TACOM.
Cessna O-2 Skymaster - The museum's 0-2A has a particularly notable history, as it took part in the Rescue of Bat 21 Bravo, made famous by the 1988 movie Bat*21. The museum's O-2A called in a flight of A-1 Skyraiders to drop small aerial mines around Iceal Hambleton's position to protect him from thousands of north Vietnamese troops closing in on him. Evergreen purchased this O-2A in 2014.
Consolidated PBY Catalina - The PBY-5A in the collection is a Canadian made variant, named the Vickers Canso. The aircraft was delivered to the RCAF on June 2, 1943, and served with the Eastern Air Command, No. 13 P Squadron at Rockcliffe, and RCAF Sea Island between 1945 and 1951. After being leased to a French Civil Protection force in the 1960s, Nanaimo Airport in Vancouver, Canada purchased the aircraft, intending to modify it for tourist work in Malaysia, and the aircraft was eventually flown to McMinnville and donated in August 2011.
Douglas A-1 Skyraider - The museum's Skyraider is an AD-5N, a special variant designed for nuclear strikes. Pilots would fly the specialized variants off of the USS Essex throughout the 1950s, carrying BOAR nuclear rockets. This specific aircraft was acquired by the museum in 2005 after spending many years in the yard of a Pennsylvania boys' school. It has been restored by the museum's restoration team.
Douglas A-26C Invader - The museum's A-26 was manufactured and delivered to the U.S. Army Air Force in the spring of 1945. Following World War II, this aircraft was loaned to France, who deployed in Indochina against Viet Minh, and was returned to the USAF in September 1954. At some point, it would be converted from a C-model to a B-model. Lynch Flying Service of Montana acquired the aircraft and converted it into a water bomber for forest fire suppression., Evergreen purchased the aircraft the 1989 and museum volunteers spent more than 6,000 hours restoring it to its wartime configuration.
Douglas C-47 Skytrain - The museum's C-47A, #43-15512, was built in Santa Monica California in 1944 and delivered to the U.S. Army Air Force on April 3. The aircraft participated in Operation Overlord and the re-supply of Normandy Troops, making three drops across June 5 and 6. On one trip it towed two gliders beneath it. It flew in Operation Market Garden; the re-supply of surrounded Allied troops during the Battle of the Bulge; and Operation Varsity. It carried returning Russian P.O.W.s and refugees, and landed twice outside Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to retrieve internees for medical treatment. After the war, this C-47A was returned to the U.S. and converted to a DC-3C (N62376) for passenger use. It flew with Empire Airlines and West Coast Airlines, serving the Pacific Northwest, flying more than five million miles and logging 32,181 flight hours between June 1944 and its retirement in June 1963. It was donated to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in 1966 and put on display until 1998, when this veteran aircraft was donated to the Evergreen museum. It would undergo a long restoration project, intended to remove corrosion that riddled the aircraft after its years sitting outside and correct it to its original C-47 design. During the project, small remnants, such as buttons and strips of clothing, were found from the aircraft's mission to rescue concentration camp survivors.
Douglas DC-3A - The museum's DC-3A is the second oldest surviving Douglas DC-3 Air, delivered to United Airlines in 1936. Named the Mainliner Reno, it was also the first to be fitted with Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines. Originally built for United, it had normal seating for 21 passengers and a crew of three. It flew flown more than 15 million passenger miles during its commercial service. It would be restored in 1987, performing in air shows across the U.S. before being acquired by Evergreen in May 1990.
Douglas F5D Skylancer - This aircraft is currently stored outside of the museum's aviation hangar and is not on display. It is undergoing paint and structural restoration.
Grumman F-14 Tomcat - This aircraft had been displayed outside in the grass at the front of the aviation hangar. It was brought inside the hangar for display in 2025.
Grumman G-21 Goose - The museum's Goose, a G-21A, was in service with the US Navy until it was released as surplus in 1952 to the US Fish & Wildlife Service. When it was transferred to Alaska's Department of Fish & Game in Juneau, it flew all over Alaska, from the Aleutian Islands to the Arctic Ocean. After 12 years, it was transferred to the Department of Public Safety and State Troopers, and subsequently sold to Peninsula Airways. After an unfortunate gust of wind blew the plane off a runway in Anchorage, the Museum purchased the aircraft in 2012.
Handley Raven - This aircraft is a one-of-a-kind custom aerobatic aircraft made by airshow pilot Wayne Handley. He donated the airplane to the Evergreen Museum after he flew it for the last time, for the Northwest Antique Aircraft Air Show at McMinnville Municipal Airport, in August 2005.
Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird – This Blackbird (Ser. No. 61-7971) was one of three that were reactivated and used by NASA and the USAF in 1995. Its last flight was February 1, 1996.[11]
McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle – on a pedestal at the former Evergreen International Aviation headquarters as a memorial to Michael King Smith, a son of museum founder Delford M. Smith
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II - The USAF accepted the museum's F-4C (S/N 63-7647) from McDonnell Aircraft Corporation on November 12, 1963. It spent much of the next ten years in Southeast Asia serving with several different fighter units, including the 8th Fighter Wing and the 555th Fighter Squadron. During its Southeast Asian service, pilots flying this aircraft shot down a MiG-21 and a MiG-17, both in 1967. In March 1976, this F-4C was assigned to the 154th Wing at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. This aircraft was later reassigned to the 142nd Wing of the Oregon Air National Guard in July 1987, stationed in Portland, Oregon.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 - The museum's model is a MiG-15 UTI Midget, a two-seater trainer variant. This aircraft was built in China by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. Little is known about this aircraft's flight record before it was sold to Aviation Classics Limited in the late 1980s, before being sold to Evergreen in 1992.
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 - The MiG-17A Fresco in the museum's collection was originally built in the Soviet Union. George Gould of Galveston, Texas, purchased this MiG-17A from the Bulgarian Air Force and donated it to the museum in 2003.
North American T-39 Sabreliner – Rockwell Collins’ 1964 Sabreliner Model 50 (tail number N50CR) was acquired by Evergreen in 1976 and used for flight-test projects that helped shape modern commercial and military avionics. The aircraft was flown about 8,000 hours with more than 5,000 landings. It was donated to the museum in January 2013.[12][failed verification]
Republic F-84F Thunderstreak - The museum's Thunderstreak was used by an aviation tech school in Iowa, before being restored by the museum's restoration team in 2009.
Ryan PT-22 Recruit - A short lived World War II trainer, this Recruit crashed into Turkshead Mountain in the same year that it was manufactured. Its pilot was killed in the accident and the aircraft was removed from service. The aircraft was acquired by Evergreen and restored in 2001.
Van's RV-6 - This RV-6 is the first production of the model, it was built in 1988 by Richard VanGrunsven and his wife Diane. The aircraft was donated to the museum by Richard VanGrunsven.
This missile, Serial Number 66-4319 or B-108, is the last of the 108 Titan-II ICBMs to be fabricated. One of 14 Titan-IIs converted for science, weather, and military satellite launches, it is only one in the group not to be launched. The exhibit includes the Titan II launch control center equipment used in California for launching the Titan 23G.
One of only two remaining Titan IV launch vehicles. On outdoor display. The exhibit includes the core stages for Titan IVB #K-40 and some parts for the solid rocket motors.[13]
↑ Pointer, Starla (September 14, 2000). "The Journey to Oregon". Yamhill Valley News-Register. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2024.
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