The Spruce Goose is the name commonly given to the US Hughes H-4 Hercules, an aircraft designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft company that was the largest flying boat, and one of the largest aircraft, ever built. The Spruce Goose is the world's largest aircraft by wingspan and is also the world's largest wooden plane. The popular Spruce Goose is now appropriately regarded as a true American icon. The Spruce Goose is still the biggest aircraft ever built and was decades ahead of its time in the early 1940s. The Spruce Goose is now on display in McMinnville, Oregon near the Oregon wine country.

Hughes and the Spruce Goose

Howard Hughes directed the building of the wooden plane and piloted the airplane on its maiden and only flight in November 1947. Hughes did not like the name Hercules, nor did he appreciate the phrase Spruce Goose. Hughes and his team accomplished all of this working with "non-essential" materials, building a wood aircraft, mostly birch not spruce, that even many of his colleagues dismissed as impossible. Hughes invested seven million dollars of his own into the project to keep it going. After flying the plane, Hughes had proved the critics wrong, but the justification for continued spending on the project was gone. Hughes's obsessive effort to build the world's largest airplane is dramatized in the highly acclaimed movie The Aviator.

Spruce Goose Museum

The Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, Oregon is home to the world-famous Spruce Goose and over fifty other historic aircraft and exhibits. The Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville is a must-see for any aviation buff. The progression of aviation from its very start through to the space age is represented at the Evergreen Aviation Museum. The museum staff hopes to eventually open the interior of the Spruce Goose to the public. For the true aviation buff, the Tillamook Air Museum is only about an hour away and has some excellent exhibits as well. Located thirty-six miles southwest of Portland in McMinnville, the Evergreen Aviation Museum can be accessed directly from Highway 18, which serves as the principal route connecting the Portland metropolitan area and the central Oregon coast. Daytime parking is free and available for automobile, motorcoach, and bus parking during Museum visits.

The Spruce Goose at Evergreen Museum is a great thing to visit on an Oregon wine country tour.