Tail Feathers
by Jon Burch Photography
Title
Tail Feathers
Artist
Jon Burch Photography
Medium
Photograph - Digital Capture/faa Watermark Will Not Be On Your Finished Photograph.
Description
Completed, the Spruce Goose was the largest flying machine ever built, and its wingspan of 320 feet remains the largest in history. The finished aircraft was colossal, measuring 220 feet long, 25 feet high and 30 feet wide. Sporting an 800-ton, 210-foot-long flying boat with an EIGHT STORY HIGH TAIL SECTION, the airplane was designed to be capable of carrying 750 troops or one M4 Sherman tank.
In 1980, the Hercules Spruce Goose was acquired by the Aero Club of Southern California, which put the aircraft on display in a large dome adjacent to the Queen Mary exhibit in Long Beach, California. In 1988, The Walt Disney Company acquired both attractions and the associated real estate. Disney informed the Aero Club of Southern California that it no longer wished to display the Hercules after its highly ambitious Port Disney was scrapped. After a long search for a suitable host, the Aero Club of Southern California arranged for the Hughes flying boat to be given to Evergreen Aviation Museum in exchange for payments and a percentage of the museum's profits. The aircraft was transported by barge, train, and truck to its current home in McMinnville, Oregon about 40 miles southwest of Portland where it was reassembled by Contractors Cargo Company and is currently on display. The aircraft arrived in McMinnville on February 27, 1993, after a 138-day, 1,055-mile trip from Long Beach.
The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum displays a number of military and civilian aircraft and spacecraft. First envisioned by Capt. Michael King Smith, son of Evergreen International Aviation founder Delford Smith, the museum began with a small collection of vintage aircraft in a hangar at headquarters and was called the Evergreen Museum. In 1992, the Evergreen Museum won the bid for the Spruce Goose with a proposal to build a museum around the aircraft and feature it as a central exhibit.
Image copyright 2012 Jon Burch Photography
Uploaded
December 5th, 2015
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