New Addition Joins Spruce Goose

The Beech Starship has joined the world’s most famous flying boat and the world's fastest aircraft at McMinnville (OR). The three aircraft are among those housed in the Evergreen Aviation Museum in McMinnville, thanks to a recent donation from Raytheon Aircraft Company. The Starship joins Howard Hughes’ Spruce Goose, an SR-71 Blackbird and more than 50 historic airplanes and helicopters at the 2 1/2 year-old museum.  The all-composite Starship – the first composite aircraft certified by the FAA -- paved the way for Raytheon Aircraft’s new business jets, the Beechcraft Premier I and Hawker Horizon.

"The Beech Starship is a great addition to our display," said Gary Arnold, Museum Vice President of Operations. "It represents the aviation industry’s continuing need to innovate, to advance our knowledge and capabilities – much like the SR-71 and the Spruce Goose." This is the fourth museum donation for the Starship. Earlier donations were to the Kansas Aviation Museum in Wichita, the Staggerwing Museum in Tullahoma (TN) and the Southern Museum of Flight in Birmingham (AL).

The Evergreen Aviation Museum completed 2003 with its celebration of the 500,000th visitor since its June 6, 2001 opening. In just two and a half years, the museum has seen a record number of visitors and has continued its reputation as one of Oregon’s top visitor attractions. The public continues to enjoy the interior access of the Spruce Goose cargo deck, the supersonic SR-71 spy plane, and the rare historic aircraft collection. The museum is in the process of creating an improved Spruce Goose Café and opening a new interactive center for children. The West Coast Bank Interactivity Center recently opened and includes three new children’s exhibits: a pitch, yaw, roll demonstrator, a fluid flow tank, and a Bernoulli Machine. 

FMI: www.sprucegoose.org