A new twist in the Evergreen Story...

[Pat Carry]

I cant help but wondering what will be the fate of the B-17.

She'll fly hopefully!

As of 7/15/15, registered to FORTRESS AND FIGHTERS LLC, C/O ROBERT COLLINGS, PO BOX 248, STOW, MASSACHUSETTS

Thanks Scott. Very interesting

[JohnB]

What will all this leave the museum besides the Hughes and SR-71?

A bunch of Cold War Era Jets and a few civilian aircraft

Well, there is more to aviation than warbirds. Besides, I have hunch it's the Hughes that brings in the general public.
Hopefully, it will do well.

[Mike]

It wasn't commercially viable before without Evergreen cross-subsidising it from its various companies, what makes you think it will be now?

[Mike]

The other party to the deal, George Schott, has snagged the Bf 109, Spitfire, Stearman and P-38, now being registered to his company Affordable Midcoast Housing LLC in Maine

[DH82EH]

The 109 was rebuilt by Daryl Skurich I believe. An ex Doug Arnold machine recovered from Yugoslavia.
Do any of you folks know if the engine was ever run and or who rebuilt it?
Nice to hear of these machines maybe coming to live in the East.

Thanks for any input.

Andy Scott

[Ed Likes]

Col. Rohr can you enlighten those of us who know nothing about Mr. George Schott. Does he live in Maine? What is his background in regards to how he became interested in Warbirds? Obviously he has the means to indulge in warbirds which is great. Just call me curious.
I was sort of hoping that Collings might get the P-38, but that doesn't at this time look likely. Though having said that Im glad that if indeed Mr. Schott is going to be the new owner that perhaps he will return it to the air. I seen this P-38 at Evergreen in June 2013 it looked really great to me at least, Anyway Col Rohr any feedback is most welcome regarding Mr. Schott he sounds like a very interesting guy. Where might he be located at?

[kmiles]

Col. Rohr can you enlighten those of us who know nothing about Mr. George Schott. Does he live in Maine? What is his background in regards to how he became interested in Warbirds? Obviously he has the means to indulge in warbirds which is great. Just call me curious.
I was sort of hoping that Collings might get the P-38, but that doesn't at this time look likely. Though having said that Im glad that if indeed Mr. Schott is going to be the new owner that perhaps he will return it to the air. I seen this P-38 at Evergreen in June 2013 it looked really great to me at least, Anyway Col Rohr any feedback is most welcome regarding Mr. Schott he sounds like a very interesting guy. Where might he be located at?

George Schott is a friend/supporter of The Collings Foundation. We have worked with him on several other projects. He is not necessarily a "warbird operator". The Collings Foundation brought him into this "project" as he has interests other than aircraft, and the settlement in OR is much more involved than just aircraft. There are agreements in place between Mr. Schott and The Collings Foundation regarding restoration and operation of the aircraft that are part of the settlement. Unless Col Rohr has had previous business relationships with Mr. Schott, I do not expect that he is going to "uncover" any information regarding the former Evergreen aircraft. Mr. Schott is a private individual, and will be about as forthcoming as Rod Lewis or Paul Allen when it comes to the aircraft.

[thoots]

Howdy, folks -- my first post here. I joined pretty much to help provide information regarding the Evergreen Museum. I'm a member, I'm retired, and I'm about a half-hour's drive away. So, I can get over there quite often, quite easily.

I missed all of the story about the Evergreen Vintage Aircraft bankruptcy resolution -- I found out about that while reading about the recent resolution of the actual purchase of the Spruce Goose from the Aero Club of Southern California, a week or two ago. I have actually visited the museum quite frequently over the past six months, but I thought I would pop over there again and see if a whole bunch of aircraft might be missing. I visited about a week ago, on July 22, 2015. So, this is just a quick report about "missing aircraft."

And from what I could see, nothing is gone. Yes, I've seen how very few aircraft remain registered to Evergreen Vintage Aircraft, but so far, nothing has apparently left the museum. I'll be glad to pop over there occasionally, and let you guys know what's going on.

I'm also pretty keen on photography, so I intend to post a bunch of pictures I've taken at Evergreen and a few other museums I frequent, such as the Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum, usually referred to as WAAAM. Located in Hood River, Oregon, just do a search for WAAAM, and it'll pop right up. I can certainly post a bunch of high-quality pictures of aircraft that might not actually be "warbirds," but I hope folks won't mind if a few civilian things make it into my pictures. I was able to visit the Erickson Aircraft Collection in its new home in Madras, Oregon early in the year, and I'll be out there again in about a month to attend the Airshow of the Cascades air show. And, of course, I will come back with pictures.

I'll be glad to answer any questions you might have, given what I can find just by visiting things, and perhaps taking some pictures. I don't have any "insider information" about Evergreen at all, but I can certainly pop over there and see what's going on.

[tulsaboy]

Welcome, thoots!
We all look forward to your photographs. If you get around to posting WAAAM photos, I'm particularly interested in their Spartan C2-60. Probably most appropriate to start another thread for those types of photos in the Vintage section, but I'd look forward to seeing whatever you have.
kevin

[PeterA]

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry ... rtxt=356TE

[Warbirdnerd]

Hear the story directly from Rob Collings:
http://www.warbirdradio.com/2015/07/spe ... evergreen/

[thoots]

Welcome, thoots!
We all look forward to your photographs. If you get around to posting WAAAM photos, I'm particularly interested in their Spartan C2-60. Probably most appropriate to start another thread for those types of photos in the Vintage section, but I'd look forward to seeing whatever you have.
kevin

Thanks for the welcome, and the advice. I see what you're saying.

It's quite likely that I've got a few shots of the Spartan -- I'll have to go digging. In the meantime, here are a few samples of my photography, taken the other day at Evergreen:







The outdoor shots are a bit over-the-top -- it was 95 degrees with some of the best blue skies of the summer. Which I emphasized with a polarizer filter. Then I over-emphasized them in post-processing. The Mustang is a bit more on the realistic side.

I have spent the past six months or more running around taking pictures -- utterly thousands of them, but I have only processed a few dozen. So, I need to get to work on processing a bunch before I really start posting them. So, I'll try to get busy!

[thoots]

Hear the story directly from Rob Collings:
http://www.warbirdradio.com/2015/07/spe ... evergreen/

Thanks very much for the link -- that sure helps us understand what we should expect to see in the coming months.

thoots

[Warbirdnerd]

Does this mean the Museum Buildings are being sold at the Sheriff's auction, or is there a separate Space Museum?
Posted today:

Space museum, water park up for sheriff's sale
Yamhill County Sheriff Tim Svenson has confirmed receipt of a writ of execution from Yamhill County Circuit Court for sale of the Evergreen Space Museum and the Wings & Waves Waterpark in a Nov. 30 foreclosure auction on the courthouse steps.
However, museum officials said Monday they remain hopeful of heading it off.

The writ was issued in response to a court finding that the owner of the properties, the nonprofit Michael King Smith Foundation, is past due on $1.9 million in debt to their builder, Portland’s Hoffman Construction.

Hoffman filed a foreclosure suit against the foundation last year. It prevailed, but agreed to set the judgment aside pending attempts to negotiate an acceptable out-of-court settlement.

In August, Hoffman sought and obtained reinstatement of the judgment because settlement talks had not borne fruit. The next step, already ordered by the sheriff, is publication of a set of legal notices advertising the sale.

Appraisals suggest that on paper at least, the buildings carry values running into the tens of millions. And to a much greater extent than the museum, the water park would appear to hold potential for operation as a commercial venture.

The Michael King Smith Foundation is governed by a three-member-board consisting of attorney Jay Goffman, head of corporate restructuring for New York’s Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, one of the largest law firms in the world; certified public accountant Lisa Anderson, president of Evergreen Vintage Aircraft, which previously owned some of the planes displayed at the space museum’s air museum twin; and Jimmy Ray, personal representative of the estate of late Evergreen corporate and museum founder Del E. Smith. In addition to owing the construction company almost $2 million, the foundation reportedly owes Goffman’s 2,000-member law firm some $5 million.

On Monday, Goffman released a statement saying, “We are aware of the action and we are working with all parties to try to resolve this matter consensually. The Michael King Smith Foundation intends to preserve its assets for the best interests of the entire community. We are dedicated to the long term future of McMinnville and we are confident that, with everyone’s effort, a positive solution can be achieved for all.”

A settlement would head off the foreclosure sale. So would a bankruptcy filing, at least for the time being, if not permanently.

Over the span of several decades, Smith built a fledgling helicopter company into a global aviation goliath under the banner of Evergreen International Aviation. From its base in McMinnville, the corporation came to include international air transport, helicopter services, ground logistics, agricultural and airplane storage and repair arms.

He subsequently founded the Evergreen Aviation Museum. Over the ensuing years, he added the space museum and water park, along with a theater, chapel and other elements.

The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum operating entity leases its web of land and buildings from a variety of owners.

Since the collapse of Evergreen International Airlines and most of its subsidiaries in 2013-14, and Smith’s subsequent death, the museum has struggled. That’s partly because the entities that own its buildings, and many of its exhibits, are mired in debt.

It has managed to resolve a number of outstanding issues, but more keep cropping up.

Last summer, Evergreen Vintage Aircraft, which owned the aviation museum, about two-dozen of its planes and the adjacent theater at the time, filed for bankruptcy to hold off an Umpqua Bank foreclosure action based on debt approaching $42 million.

The bank settled for $20.5 million in June. As part of the deal, Yamhill County settled a back taxes claim of $1.2 million.

A private party purchased the two buildings and agreed to lease them back for continued museum operations on highly favorable terms. That provided the money used to pay the creditors.

However, the foundation-owned space museum and water park buildings had been put up for collateral with Hoffman Construction, Smith’s general contractor of choice on all of the buildings in the complex. The foundation still owes Hoffman almost $2 million, and months of talks have failed to produce a deal settling that debt.

As things stand, the foundation also owes the county almost $1.25 million in back taxes on the two properties. County Assessor Scott Maytubby did not return e-mails and a phone call by deadline, but records appear to show that all but $11,800 of it is due on the water park element.

The foundation and county are locked in a tax court battle over the county’s claim, the foundation pressing a claim for an educational exemption and the county resisting. The case was heard in September, but the court is not expected to render a decision any time soon.

Meanwhile:

n In July, the Michael King Smith Foundation finally settled a longstanding debt with the Aero Club of Southern California on its centerpiece aviation museum exhibit, the massive wooden airplane known as the Spruce Goose.

n In September, Evergreen Vintage Aircraft apparently came to terms with its third major creditor, World Fuel Inc. However, it has yet to file final papers to that effect in federal court.

Smith put up EVA holdings for collateral against fuel orders to keep his global fleet in operation, running up about $9 million in debt.

World Fuel’s claim had been set for trial Nov. 9. In late September, the judge canceled the trial in anticipation of the filing of a stipulated judgment by the parties, stemming from out-of-court talks.

Found it here:
http://newsregister.com/article?article ... 1home-news

[p51]

I'm not familiar with all the details of how the museum is set up, but the 'space' museum (with a great deal of replica stuff and overruns of helicopters and a few jets) is in a totally different building on a shared parking lot as the main building with the Hughes H-4. As is the water park (which is further away from the other 3). Another building there has (had?) an IMAX theater but last Fall that building wasn't open at the time.
I went last Fall due to all the news stories and I wanted to hit the place before the implosion I'd heard might be coming actually happened.