If you were a kid growing up in the 1970s, you probably played with Waddingtons' Top Trumps cards. I can remember being routinely thrashed by my older brother with the Supercars set. He always seemed to get the Lamborghini Countach and the Ferrari Pininfarina cards, leading me to suspect that he was either incredibly lucky or a cheating sod.
Personally, I always preferred the Ultimate Military Jets set. When all's said and done, your car can have as many CCs as you like, but it still can't outrun a McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle tactical fighter.
Fraternal rivalry aside, I was thrilled to find out that there's a museum that houses some of the most iconic aircraft in the world.
Founded by a former USAF pilot, the Evergreen Aviation Museum doesn't look like much from a distance. It just seems to be a huge hangar with a window in the front with one big silver plane sitting in it. Then you get closer and notice that the big silver plane has dozens of other planes nestling under its wings.
Then you get a sense of how large the museum is. The big silver plane is Howard Hughes's H-4 Hercules. Better known as the Spruce Goose (even though it was made of birch), it's still the largest plane ever built and flown.
There are many more perfectly preserved examples of aviation history inside, including a Lockheed P-38L Lightning, a Messerschmitt Bf 109, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Henry Ford's Tin Goose, a Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVI and, best of all, the Lockheed SR-71A.
Better known to skilled pilots and Top Trump players as the Blackbird, the SR-71A redefined air combat and paved the way for stealth bombers. Its defence mechanism was that it could simply go faster than missiles and bullets. How cool is that?
So how can a museum afford so many multimillion dollar exhibits? Well, if you drive up the street you'll see the HQ of Evergreen Aviation. With businesses ranging from vineyards and hazelnut orchards to global air cargo transportation and charter services serving customers such as British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Virgin Atlantic, these are the guys who make sure your luggage gets on the plane and that your bags of nuts are of premium quality.
Most of the original warbirds in the museum were from the private collection of founder and heir to the Evergreen fortune, Michael King Smith, who first had the idea of creating a 'living aviation museum'. Smith died in 1995, but managed to create not only the museum, but also the Captain Michael King Smith Educational Institute.
Which brings us back to camping under the Spruce Goose. Aside from the stunning museum, the facility offers more education courses than most universities. Whether it's a Night Flight, where you get to spend a night in the museum bundled up next to the exhibits, or more adult-oriented historic and scientific seminars, you'll leave the facility with more aviation knowledge than noted US test pilot Chuck Yeager.
Jamie Lewis is a wandering reporter for Museums Journal. Ideas and comments to jimbles@hotmail.com
Personally, I always preferred the Ultimate Military Jets set. When all's said and done, your car can have as many CCs as you like, but it still can't outrun a McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle tactical fighter.
Fraternal rivalry aside, I was thrilled to find out that there's a museum that houses some of the most iconic aircraft in the world.
Founded by a former USAF pilot, the Evergreen Aviation Museum doesn't look like much from a distance. It just seems to be a huge hangar with a window in the front with one big silver plane sitting in it. Then you get closer and notice that the big silver plane has dozens of other planes nestling under its wings.
Then you get a sense of how large the museum is. The big silver plane is Howard Hughes's H-4 Hercules. Better known as the Spruce Goose (even though it was made of birch), it's still the largest plane ever built and flown.
There are many more perfectly preserved examples of aviation history inside, including a Lockheed P-38L Lightning, a Messerschmitt Bf 109, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Henry Ford's Tin Goose, a Supermarine Spitfire Mk XVI and, best of all, the Lockheed SR-71A.
Better known to skilled pilots and Top Trump players as the Blackbird, the SR-71A redefined air combat and paved the way for stealth bombers. Its defence mechanism was that it could simply go faster than missiles and bullets. How cool is that?
So how can a museum afford so many multimillion dollar exhibits? Well, if you drive up the street you'll see the HQ of Evergreen Aviation. With businesses ranging from vineyards and hazelnut orchards to global air cargo transportation and charter services serving customers such as British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Virgin Atlantic, these are the guys who make sure your luggage gets on the plane and that your bags of nuts are of premium quality.
Most of the original warbirds in the museum were from the private collection of founder and heir to the Evergreen fortune, Michael King Smith, who first had the idea of creating a 'living aviation museum'. Smith died in 1995, but managed to create not only the museum, but also the Captain Michael King Smith Educational Institute.
Which brings us back to camping under the Spruce Goose. Aside from the stunning museum, the facility offers more education courses than most universities. Whether it's a Night Flight, where you get to spend a night in the museum bundled up next to the exhibits, or more adult-oriented historic and scientific seminars, you'll leave the facility with more aviation knowledge than noted US test pilot Chuck Yeager.
Jamie Lewis is a wandering reporter for Museums Journal. Ideas and comments to jimbles@hotmail.com
