Cronkite To Narrate Museum Documentary

He was once called the most trusted man in America. Walter Cronkite, former CBS news anchor and aviation junkie visits McMinnville (OR) next month to narrate a documentary about the Spruce Goose for the Evergreen Aviation Museum.

Wanna Meet Walter? Pony Up.

Your run-of-the-mill donor gets $125 ticket is good for cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and a "half-hour visit with Mr. Cronkite." The March 12 fund-raiser takes place at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Portland.

For bigger donors, there's more.

A $2,500 contribution for 10 guests gets each a copy of the documentary and an autographed copy of Cronkite's book, "A Reporter's Life." A dozen $5,000 tickets will be sold. For that kind of money, ticket-holders get to sit in on the taping session inside the HK-1, and have lunch with Cronkite on March 13, in addition to the previous evening's party.

Cronkite And The Goose: Together Again

The museum is billing the event as "the reunion of two American icons: Walter Cronkite and the Spruce Goose."

In fact, this isn't Walter's first experience with Howard Hughes' famous wooden airplane. In 1983, he got a look inside the plane while conducting an interview with Hughes associate Jack G. Real.

Real is one of the museum's 19 trustees, which also include former U.S. Rep. Denny Smith. Smith is a big aviation buff, having flown for the military, then worked as a commercial pilot, before being elected to Congress.

The museum has not officially announced Cronkite's visit to the public at large. It was not immediately clear whether there would be any public events associated with it.

FMI: www.sprucegoose.org