NewsRegister.com Home page / Glory Restored home page

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: JULY 11, 1992

Evergreen wins bid for Flying Boat

By Yvette Saarinen
Of the News-Register

The news traveled faster than a SR71 Blackbird: Howard Hughes' legendary Flying Boat is coming to McMinnville.

More commonly known as the Spruce Goose, a name scorned by aircraft aficionados, its new resting place was secured by Evergreen International Airlines of McMinnville.

Faxes and phone calls Friday flew over the wires between McMinnville and Long Beach, Calif., Seattle, Wash., and even Oshkosh, Wis. - all of which played a part in the saga.

Evergreen was chosen in a unanimous vote Thursday by the Aero Club of Southern California, which authorized its subsidiary, Aero Exhibits Corp., to negotiate the sale.

The Flying Boat has been on display in Long Beach, managed by the Walt Disney Co. The firm notified the Port of Long Beach that it was going to discontinue its lease in September, setting the stage for the competitive process.

Evergreen representatives have declined to discuss the money side of the deal, but William Schoneberger, president of Aero Exhibits, said money was not the deciding factor. Care, preservation and appropriate display of the historic aircraft was chosen over proposals from commercial theme parks.

There were six bidders from both the East and West coasts.

"We felt the most substantial proposal was from Evergreen, which operates aircraft and helicopters worldwide and already has a large collection of historic aircraft," Schoneberger said.

Evergreen's proposal was orchestrated by Howard Lovering, retired founding director of the Museum of Flight in Seattle. He said the McMinnville showcase, tentatively called Evergreen AirVenture Museum, will have the Flying Boat as its centerpiece and feature at least the 24 historic aircraft Evergreen owner Del Smith already has collected.

The museum will require at least 200,000 square feet to house the Flying Boat and associated aircraft, Lovering said. Details will be worked out, but it must fit in a rural setting and be handsome, he said. The museum will be nonprofit.

Lovering predicted it will be one of the finest flight museums in the world.

Concentration so far has been on engineering the move of the world's largest aircraft. The wings, part of the tail and the engines will be taken off. It will be placed on an ocean barge and moved to Portland, where it is possible it will be stored for as long as three years, while the museum is constructed.

Lovering said a barge company has assured the Evergreen team it can transport the craft on a river barge up the Willamette and the Yamhill River as far as Dayton. It then would be trucked about three miles to its new home.

Lovering has experienced moving big craft before. He oversaw the overland transport of an SR71 Blackbird from California to the Seattle museum. The Blackbird will fit inside the Flying Boat.

"Evergreen's driving motivation is to preserve the historic aircraft and the legacy of Howard Hughes," said Smith. "This is an act of good citizenship and not a commercial venture. We admire the many aviation contributions of Mr. Hughes and believe this significant aircraft can continue to tell the Hughes story for years to come."

Smith said a capital campaign for public and private support will be launched in the near future.

Continue to next article