The Evergreen Aviation Museum, McMinnville, Oregon, home of Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose, has added props from the "The Aviator" to its collection. Four miniatures from Martin Scorcese's film, one with a wing span of 25 feet, will be unveiled on Memorial Day weekend. The miniatures, donated by the Initial Entertainment Group, are two WWI biplanes from the "Hell's Angels" scenes; Howard Hughes experimental pre-crash XF-11 plane; and a motion-controlled Spruce Goose (shown in the photo during production).

Along with the miniature aircraft, several production sets from The Aviator were donated. Scheduled for future unveilings are: the detailed Spruce Goose flight deck, the Sikorsky cockpit and cabin, the Hell�s Angels camera plane cockpit and the XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft cockpit. The museum also plans to display the miniature set that illustrates the Spruce Goose under construction in the Cargo Building at the Hughes Aircraft Plant in Culver City, California.

The Spruce Goose, the world's largest wooden plane, has been in McMinnville since 1992, when it was shipped from its longtime resting spot in Long Beach, California. The plane made only one flight, lasting about a minute, on Nov. 2, 1947 over Long Beach Harbor.

The Evergreen Aviation Museum is at 500 NE Captain Michael King Smith Way, across the highway from the McMinnville Airport and about three miles southeast of McMinnville on Highway 18. [05/20/2005]

November 26, 2009