McMinnville has
recently been named as one of the best places to live in the United
States. What accounts for its selection is in part due to a Howard
Hughes invention and the ingenuity of a small town in Oregon in bringing
it home.
Yesterday's
online article in U.S. News and World Report points out the usual
factors found in the selection of a best place to live. Those factors
include climate, population statistics, various cultural and demographic
factors. McMinnville has a temperate climate and diversified economy,
with both lumber and wine-making activities, giving it some financial
foundation for a town of a little more than 31,000. Recreational and
cultural activities round out the town and include fishing, golf and
sporting events as well as concerts, museums, wineries and plenty of
entertainment choices. But a central attraction in all of this is the
Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum.
This museum is the home
of the famous Spruce Goose aircraft designed by Howard Hughes.
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According to its brochure hand-outs for visitors, the Evergreen Museum
was founded by and is dedicated to the memory of Michael King Smith, a
McMinnville favorite son, tops in his high school and college who made
considerable contributions to the field of aviation in Oregon. He
graduated first in his class from Columbia Air Force Base, received a
number of aviation awards over the years and went on to become an F-15
Pilot and Lead for the 123rd Fighter Squadron, the "Red Hawks," of the
Oregon Air National Guard. This great interest in aviation spurred the
development of the Museum and the eventual decision to bring in the
Howard Hughes flying boat which became popularly known as the "Spruce
Goose." The history of the "Spruce Goose" provided in overview
by the museum details the elements of its structure and how it came
to eventually be located in McMinnville, many years following Hughes'
struggle to develop the large flying boat.
The exhibit gives some
of the main facts about Howard Hughes flying boat nicknamed the Spruce
Goose.
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The high point of the museum experience, and part of the McMinnville
claim to fame, the Spruce Goose was the result of Howard Hughes'
interest and background in aviation. Hughes had gained an international
reputation for a number of entrepreneurial efforts, including the oil
business, movies, and aeronautics. Hughes had been asked by the famous
industrialist Henry Kaiser to work with him in developing a transport
system to help move troops and material across the Atlantic during the
Second World War. The Spruce Goose was a result of that effort.
Small planes are shown
here in contrast to the size of the Spruce Goose.
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The government had decreed that steel and aluminum and similar materials
needed for the war effort could not be used in the building of the
"flying boat" or aircraft being used in the design for the proposed
fleet being developed by Hughes. So Hughes team constructed the Flying
Boat out of wood using a process called Duramold. This is a
plywood-like series of wood laminations laid out in a special
perpendicular fashion and then permeated with plastic glue, shaped,
heated until cured. The process is said to create a material stronger
than aluminum.
The inside of the
flying boat shows the unusual nature of its construction
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Research and development was time-consuming, so Kaiser withdrew from the
project whereas Hughes continued with the flying boat's design and
production. The war ended with the project yet incomplete, bringing
criticism for having exceeded the government's funding allowance.
Hughes himself used $7 million of his own funds to build a flying boat.
On November 2, 1947, finally complete, the great boat, with Hughes at
the controls, sailed over a three-mile stretch of California harbor,
eventually reaching 90 miles per hour. During several tests Hughes was
able to demonstrate the airlift from boat to plane, that the big boat
could actually fly.
The Flying Boat or Spruce Goose was put away after the flight, to remain
away from crowds and speculation for 33 years, until it was brought out
of retirement after Hughes' death. The non-profit Aero Club of
Southern California leased it to the Wrather Corporation that had it
moved to a private location, finally to a home next to the Queen Mary in
1983 where it was part of a public exhibit. After Disney announced it
was closing its exhibit, the famous Spruce Goose found a new home at the
Evergreen International Aviation location in McMinnville, Oregon where
it has remained ever since.
Here's a picture of the
Spruce Goose showing elements of its construction.
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A journalist traveled to McMinnville to visit the Spruce Goose to see
how it's faring after 20 years in its Oregon home and how it
contributes to McMinnville recognition these days. The museum
attraction, and its structures, covers a number of aviation exhibits,
with the highlight being the Spruce Goose.
The old flying boat looms large in an exhibition hall of the history of
aviation, from the early efforts in hot-air balloons
This basket was
attached to hot air balloons in an early attempt for people to fly.
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and the pioneering work of Orville and
Wilbur Wright
This is a close-up of a
model of the Wright plane, the early days of the airplane.
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to some of the modern aircraft, much of it of
military type.A clear day in January, a Saturday weekend, brought a
small crowd of folks willing to pay the $14 adult fee for a visit into
one of the museums where the Spruce Goose is housed. Going into the
cockpit costs an additional $25, and few folks seemed willing to pay
extra fees, so it seemed. Still the experience was enough for Digital
Journal to see what the fuss has been about McMinnville and a key
featured attraction in why it was singled out for honor as one of the
best places in America to live. It shows clearly that Howard Hughes big
failure to bring the flying boat forward for public good in a workable
fashion has had a positive impact many years later, bringing diversity
to a town in Oregon with an added edge against the negatives of
recession.