The Evergreen Aviation And Space Museum Has Reached A Deal To Assure That The ‘Spruce Goose’ Will Stay Where It Is

The famous Hughes H-4 Hercules has been on display at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum since 1993. Because it has been a fixture there for so long, it was reasonable to assume that the museum owned the aircraft, but that is not the case.

Despite the fact this all-wood engineering marvel cost millions of government dollars, yet only flew once, it still remains one of the most interesting curiosities in aviation. Originally designed to transport materials and troops over a war-ravaged Atlantic Ocean to supply our allies in Europe during World War II, it wasn’t completed until after the war.

The Hughes Company preserved the H-4 in near flyable condition until Howard Hughes’s death in 1976. After that, it was dismantled and displayed in pieces until it was donated to the Aero Club of Southern California and displayed completely assembled next to the docked Queen Mary ocean liner in Long Beach, CA.

A deal was made in 1993 between the Aero Club of Southern California and the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum for the museum to acquire the aircraft. The arrangement was complicated and did not transfer clear title of the aircraft to the museum; therein lay the problem.

While the details are complicated, both parties have recently been in negotiations to settle differences and assure that the aircraft remains on display in an assembled state. An agreement has now been reached that will assure the airplane remains at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum.

This is a good thing.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.evergreenmuseum.org