Mark Davidson Photography

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Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum

I went down to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum to see the Spruce Goose (the Hughes H-4 Hercules). The plane is build entirely out of wood, has a wingspan of almost 100 meters, and is the largest flying boat ever built. It was completed by Hughes Aircraft Company in 1947 and only flown once. The plane was built mainly from birch(not spruce) because of the restrictions on metals, particularly aluminum, during the war. After the military decided not to use it, Howard Hughes stored it in a hanger built just for it and paid around $1 million a year to maintain it until his death in 1976.