Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, Aviation and space museum in McMinnville, United States
The North American Aerospace Museum consists of two exhibit halls of equal size in McMinnville, Oregon: the Hercules Pavilion, whose glass gable wall reveals a steel truss inside, and the Titan Pavilion, a twin building with a dark green roof and a long skylight strip. The Hughes H-4 Hercules stands at the center of the aviation hall, with other aircraft parked beneath its wings or suspended from the ceiling.
Michael King Smith, a former US Air Force captain and son of Evergreen International Aviation founder Delford M. Smith, first envisioned the museum; it opened in 1991 in a company hangar. After Disney closed the Spruce Goose exhibit in Long Beach, the museum won the 1992 bid for the aircraft, which arrived by ship and truck in February 1993 and was restored over eight years. It opened in the new building on June 6, 2001, and the space hall followed on June 6, 2008.
The museum's name comes from Evergreen International Aviation, the company founded by Delford M. Smith, whose son Michael King Smith proposed the collection; in 1997 it was renamed the Captain Michael King Smith Evergreen Aviation Educational Center in his memory after his death in a 1995 car accident. A bronze statue of Smith stands on the pathway between the aviation and space buildings.
The entrance sits right next to a large parking area from which all building sections can be reached. Plan enough time to look around because the halls are large and offer many details on the exhibits.
On the grounds stands a water park inside a retired Boeing 747 whose slides run through the aircraft cabin. This unusual section combines fun with themes around hydrodynamics and shows how old planes can get new functions.
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