McMinville is known as a major agriculture area, in the Willamtte Valley, for the grapes used in wine production.

It is also known for a piece of air history that flew once (along Long Beach California) that Howard Hughes developed for World War 2.

The Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum is home to the Spruce Goose. The largest wooden floating plane ever produced.

Special tours are available of the inside of the plane and give you the chance to sit in the cockpit of this big aircraft.

The only photographs taken (from the inside) was back of the plane. The cockpit was unique in that the guages were duplicated for others to see in the cabin.

A special outlet was built for Howard Hughes so that he could receive fresh air (from outside the plane) into the nozzle (no mask needed).

The plane was moved from it's hangar in Long Beach to McMinville where it is displayed along with many artifacts of air and space history.

This collection is very different than what is kept at the Museum of Flight in Seattle (another slide show to produce in the future).

There is one 747 on the site but it is used for a nearby indoor waterpark that is part of the waterslide on top of the neighboring building.