The Spruce Goose and many other planes!

I dedicate this page to my older brother, Roger.  He will know why!

Just west of Portland, Oregon, is an amazing airplane Museum.    We stopped and visited for several hours.  The pride and joy of the museum is the biggest plane to fly in history.  For those interested, research Howard Hughes and the Spruce Goose - a fascinating story.  The plane only flew once and not very far, but is still the world record holder for the biggest plane ever to fly.


Here are some photos from the museum:

Outside the museum are many planes and jets from the beginning of flight to about 25 years ago.  The Spruce Goose is inside one of the display sheds and is so big I couldn't get a decent photo of it.

I liked this photo of a World War Two plane because of the name on the plane.  Can you see it.?  I think it might have been named after Mrs McLeay . . . .   Wait!  She is not that old!

This is a real helicopter hanging from the museum roof, carrying a replica of the Apollo 18 return capsule.  The helicopter is very big and powerful, but I think three men crambed into that capsule will have been very tight indeed!

 

Evergreen International was once a huge international air freight cargo company which, when it closed down, was used to set up the museum.  This real Boeing 747 has been placed on top of this indoor swimming pool complex, with water slides coming from each exit.  It is still being built.  You have heard me talk about our "chauffeur," Tim Cooper, (Mrs McLeay's brother-in-law) - well his last job was as a a manager in a huge aircraft service hangar in Hongkong, and he remembers having this plane in their workshops being serviced many years ago.

Here is another photo of the plane, from the other side.