Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

There are aircraft you know from books, and there are aircraft you only grasp once you stand underneath them. The Hughes H-4 Hercules clearly belongs to the second kind. Almost 98 meters of wingspan, eight radial engines, a hull as tall as an apartment building – and all of it made of wood. The “Spruce Goose” has stood since 2001 in a purpose-built hall in McMinnville, Oregon, a good hour’s drive southwest of Portland. You probably know the museum around it as the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. Since August 2026 it has been called the North American Aerospace Museum.

A family museum with a big history

Behind the museum is the story of an aviation company from the Willamette Valley. Delford M. Smith founded Evergreen International Aviation, which included the cargo airline Evergreen International Airlines. His son Michael King Smith, a former US Air Force captain, had the idea for a museum. In 1991 it opened as the Evergreen Museum – at first with a small collection of historic aircraft in a hangar at the company headquarters.

Father and son pulled off the big coup in 1992: They won the bid for the Spruce Goose, which until then had been on display in Long Beach, California. Michael King Smith did not live to see the new museum completed. He died in March 1995 in a car accident. In his honor, the museum carried the long name Captain Michael King Smith Evergreen Aviation Educational Center for a few years, and a bronze statue of him now stands on the path between the two buildings.

On June 6, 2001, the aviation building opened, now called the Hercules Pavilion. Exactly seven years later, on June 6, 2008, the space building followed as its twin, now the Titan Pavilion. Since 2009 the museum has been a Smithsonian Affiliate and thus a partner in the large museum network that also includes the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

Difficult years and a fresh start

It was not all smooth sailing afterward. When Evergreen International Aviation went bankrupt in 2014, several aircraft the museum had on display were auctioned off. In 2015 the museum, with support from the Collings Foundation, bought back some of the aircraft. In 2016 the museum buildings and the neighboring water park changed hands; with the sale of the space building and the water park, the museum’s remaining debts were paid off. In 2020 a winery from the region bought large areas around the museum, including part of the museum grounds.

Then, in August 2026, came the new name: North American Aerospace Museum, NORAM for short. According to Wikipedia, it reflects the museum’s broader focus. The old website redirects to the new address, but you can still find the Evergreen name on some maps and signs.

The Spruce Goose: a flying boat made of birch

The idea was born in World War II. German submarines were sinking cargo ships in the Atlantic by the dozen, and the industrialist Henry J. Kaiser wanted to send troops and supplies through the air instead. In 1942 he signed a development contract with Howard Hughes for a giant transport flying boat. Because aluminum was scarce for the war effort, the two bet on wood as the building material. The aircraft was first called HK-1, after the initials of the two partners.

Construction dragged on. Kaiser dropped out, Hughes carried on alone, and the aircraft was henceforth called the H-4 Hercules. When the war ended, it was not yet finished. The press dubbed it the “Spruce Goose,” a nickname that is wrong twice over: The flying boat is made mostly of birch, and Hughes couldn’t stand the name. You can find more about the construction and background in the article on the Hughes H-4 Hercules.

November 2, 1947: the one flight

On November 2, 1947, Hughes invited journalists to Long Beach harbor to demonstrate taxi tests. During one of these runs across the water, he suddenly pulled the H-4 up. According to the museum, it flew about half a mile, for roughly 30 seconds and only a few meters above the water. David Grant was the copilot. It remained the only flight.

What came next is almost more astonishing. Until his death in 1976, Hughes had the flying boat maintained by a dedicated crew in a climate-controlled hangar. Later it stood in a domed hall next to the ocean liner Queen Mary in Long Beach. Disney had taken over the Long Beach attractions in 1988 and did not want to continue the exhibit in the early 1990s. So a new home was sought – and Evergreen won the bid in 1992.

The journey to Oregon

A flying boat of this size doesn’t fit on any truck. That is why disassembly began in August 1992. The fuselage, wings and tail went by ship up the West Coast and on via the Columbia River and the Willamette River to Portland. There, according to the museum, the parts had to wait several months until the water level was low enough to pass under the Willamette’s bridges. They covered the last stretch by truck. In February 1993 they arrived in McMinnville.

Then the patient work began. Volunteers restored the Spruce Goose for about eight years in temporary halls. Only once the new museum building stood did the team reassemble the flying boat inside it. According to Wikipedia, the last control surface was installed in December 2001 – half a year after the opening. In 2024 the H-4 was added to the National Register of Historic Places once again.

Inside the Hercules Pavilion

When you enter the hall, the Spruce Goose dominates everything. It fills the space almost completely, and the other exhibits stand and hang under and beside its wings like models. According to the museum, the building also shows biplanes, World War II aircraft, aerobatic planes and Vietnam-era aircraft.

Among the pieces from the propeller era are, according to Wikipedia, a Douglas DC-3 and a C-47 – the history of the type is told in the article on the Douglas DC-3 –, a Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat, a Douglas A-26C Invader, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and a Piper L-4 Grasshopper. The holdings keep changing through loans and sales. If you’re traveling for a specific aircraft, ask ahead.

Titan Pavilion: space and the Cold War

The twin building next door belongs to space and to the fastest and most invisible aircraft of the Cold War. The eye-catcher is the Titan II SLV. According to Wikipedia, the rocket, almost 35 meters tall, stands upright in a display that reaches two floors below the hall floor.

For aircraft fans, the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is the star. According to the museum, this example has stood in McMinnville since 2002. The black reconnaissance aircraft is one of the icons of Lockheed Martin, and there are few places where you can get this close to one. Since 2023 it has had company in the form of a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the angular stealth bomber.

According to Wikipedia, the space section also shows a Mercury capsule, a Redstone rocket, the X-15, the X-38 test vehicle and a Soviet Foton capsule. For an extra fee you can also climb into a flight simulator.

Fighter Town USA: fighters from East and West

According to the museum, one exhibit stretches across the entire campus: Fighter Town USA. It shows fighter aircraft from more than five decades, deliberately in pairs – American types next to their Soviet counterparts, sorted by generation.

• First generation: a replica of the Messerschmitt Me 262, the de Havilland Venom, FJ-3 Fury, F-84 and North American F-86 Sabre against the MiG-15 and MiG-17,
• second generation: the Century Series from the F-100 to the F-106 with the F-104 Starfighter, plus the MiG-21,
• third generation: the F-4 Phantom II and the MiG-23,
• fourth generation: the F-15 Eagle and F-14 Tomcat against the MiG-29, which, according to the museum, stands outside awaiting restoration.

For German visitors, the Starfighter corner is a nice connection: Wikipedia lists an F-104G in the collection, the version that the Luftwaffe and the German Navy also flew.

The Boeing 747 on the grounds

A Boeing 747-200 stands out on the grounds. The aircraft was delivered to Singapore Airlines in August 1973 as 9V-SIB, joined Evergreen in 1995 and flew there until it was retired and donated to the museum in 2013. It stands across from the museum building and is a classic photo subject. How to tell the 747-200 from later versions is explained in the article on 747 variants; the big story of the jumbo can be found under history of the Boeing 747.

On the other side of Highway 18, in front of the former headquarters of Evergreen International Aviation, an F-15 stands on a pedestal. McMinnville Municipal Airport begins next to it.

Taking photos in the museum

According to the museum, photos for personal use are allowed. Tripods and selfie sticks are not permitted in the museum; if you have one with you, leave it in the car or at the front desk. Why a tripod or monopod can still make sense outside is explained in the article Tripod or monopod for plane spotting.

Planning your visit: hours, tickets, getting there

The museum is about 3.5 miles southeast of McMinnville on Highway 18, directly across from McMinnville Municipal Airport. From Portland, according to the museum, it’s about an hour’s drive. Public transportation plays practically no role here – count on a rental car.

• Hours: according to the museum, daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., November through March from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; closed on Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and December 25.
• Tickets: adults $26, seniors 65+ and veterans $22, youths 9 to 13 $14, children under three and active-duty military free (as of October 2026). You don’t have to reserve, but you can still buy online.
• Included in admission: according to the museum, both buildings and tours led by volunteers. The flight simulator costs extra.
• Food: According to the museum, the Aviator Café in the lobby of the aviation building is open daily from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. You may not bring your own food inside, but there are picnic tables on the grounds.
• Accessibility: All buildings are wheelchair accessible, elevators lead to the upper floors, and you can borrow wheelchairs free of charge against ID.
• RV: With paid admission, according to the museum, you may stay one night in the parking lot, without electric or water hookups. Sign up at the front desk.

The visit is especially worthwhile with kids: the flight simulator, the huge hall and the Wings & Waves water park right next door make it a family day. According to the museum, though, there is no joint ticket for the museum, water park and theater. You’ll find more ideas in the article Plane spotting with kids, and on a rainy Oregon day the museum is the best choice anyway – more on that under Plane spotting in bad weather.

Combining it: Seattle, Everett and more museums

The museum in McMinnville fits nicely into a Pacific Northwest trip. Farther north, the Museum of Flight in Seattle awaits with a large collection of airliners and military aircraft – and with a view of the traffic at Boeing Field, described on the spot page Museum of Flight at Boeing Field. In Everett, Boeing shows widebody jet production at the Future of Flight at Paine Field.

If you’re planning a trip across the US, you’ll find more major museums: the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson with its huge outdoor area, the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton and, near Washington, the Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, where another SR-71 stands. And if you want to get to know Howard Hughes as an airline boss too, read on at TWA, which he controlled for years.

Volunteers as the backbone

Without volunteers, the Spruce Goose would not stand in McMinnville today. They restored and reassembled the flying boat for about eight years after transport, and to this day volunteers lead tours through the halls. According to its own website, the museum is still looking for helpers. What this kind of work looks like in aviation museums is described in the article Volunteering in aviation museums.

Conclusion

The museum in McMinnville lives off a single, incomparable aircraft. The Spruce Goose is bigger, stranger and more impressive than photos convey: a wooden flying boat with almost 98 meters of wingspan that flew just once for half a minute and was then maintained, transported and restored for decades. Around it, the museum offers enough with the SR-71, F-117, Titan II, Fighter Town USA and the 747 for a long visit.

The fact that it is now called the North American Aerospace Museum changes nothing about the collection. Drive there, plan on at least three hours, leave the tripod in the car and combine the detour with Seattle.