Warbird Information Exchange

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed on this site are the responsibility of the poster and do not reflect the views of the management.
It is currently Fri Jul 11, 2025 10:13 am

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Classic Wings Magazine WWII Naval Aviation Research Pacific Luftwaffe Resource Center
When Hollywood Ruled The Skies - Volumes 1 through 4 by Bruce Oriss


Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 19 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
PostPosted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 9:29 pm 
Offline
1000+ Posts!
1000+ Posts!
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 01, 2004 6:11 pm
Posts: 1917
Location: Pacific Northwest USA, via North Florida
I went to the Evergreen Aviation museum in McMinnville, Oregon yesterday. I'd been there twice before but not since 2005. They have expanded the place a great deal ad is the only museum I know which has a B-17 and hardly anyone notices. It's dwarfed by their primary display=
The Hughes H-4 'Hercules':
Image
Inside the crew compartment after walking up a very tight spiral staircase:
Image
Here's about the only part of the plane that really is spruce, parts of the main wing root:
Image
Unique view of the lined up props off the left wing:
Image
Inside the wing, looking toward the outer edge. They had crewmen inside the wing taking readings on its one flight:
Image
And here I am, not only sitting at Hughes' seat, but on the same seat cushion he sat on the one time I got the bird off the ground in 1947!
Image
Talk about an amazing experience...

_________________
Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 10:28 pm 
Offline
1000+ Posts!
1000+ Posts!

Joined: Sun Dec 31, 2006 5:11 pm
Posts: 1111
Location: Outer Space
Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing. Do they let anyone go up to the flight deck and sit in the pilot's seat? Or did you get a "special" tour?


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Sun Dec 07, 2014 11:03 pm 
Offline
1000+ Posts!
1000+ Posts!
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 01, 2004 6:11 pm
Posts: 1917
Location: Pacific Northwest USA, via North Florida
maxum96 wrote:
Nice pictures. Thanks for sharing. Do they let anyone go up to the flight deck and sit in the pilot's seat? Or did you get a "special" tour?
Special tour. I had no idea they did that, as you had to pay just to stick your head inside the cargo area the last time I was there.
Worth every penny and they let you take as much as 3 people with you! Even my wife thought it was cool, though she hated the extremely tight spiral stairs getting up there.

_________________
Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 11:33 am 
Offline
1000+ Posts!
1000+ Posts!

Joined: Mon May 21, 2012 12:28 pm
Posts: 1201
Nice!

I got inside her years ago in Long Beach, and recall finding the cockpit/pilots seat much more akin to a bus driver than a typical aircraft. Sitting higher up than I would have imagined. Windows almost at leg level, not shoulder level. Like flying from a park bench.....

A moving experience to see where the man sat- lucky you for sitting in the seat.

Thank you for posting.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 12:00 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 6:44 pm
Posts: 99
Location: Salt Lake City
I'm curious to know if the engines and props are real or are they replicas?


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 1:47 pm 
Offline
1000+ Posts!
1000+ Posts!
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 01, 2004 6:11 pm
Posts: 1917
Location: Pacific Northwest USA, via North Florida
airtj wrote:
I'm curious to know if the engines and props are real or are they replicas?

Good question. I think they had one engine off the plane on display (I was there with 3 people who weren't warbird fans as such so I went through the museum pretty quick and had to stop and tell them what some things were).

_________________
Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Dec 08, 2014 7:59 pm 
Offline
1000+ Posts!
1000+ Posts!
User avatar

Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2007 5:31 pm
Posts: 1352
Location: Galveston County
p51 wrote:
Talk about an amazing experience...

Heck, it's an amazing experience just to see the pictures, thanks for posting!

And, incidentally, if you have a bunch more photos, by all means please do post 'em... pop2

_________________
Cheers,
Kurt Maurer
League City, Texas

PIC, Ford 6600 pulling Rhino batwing up and down the runway


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 7:20 am 
Offline
2000+ Post Club
2000+ Post Club
User avatar

Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2005 6:23 pm
Posts: 2956
Location: Somewhere South of New Jersey...
Very cool. Must have been a neat experience. Thanks for sharing the pictures...

_________________
"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 11:52 am 
Offline
1000+ Posts!
1000+ Posts!
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 01, 2004 6:11 pm
Posts: 1917
Location: Pacific Northwest USA, via North Florida
Pogo wrote:
if you have a bunch more photos, by all means please do post 'em... pop2

Yeah, I took more than a few shots, will need to re-size them and toss them on photobucket when I have time...

_________________
Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 4:46 pm 
Offline
Long Time Member
Long Time Member
User avatar

Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2004 4:43 pm
Posts: 7501
Location: northern ohio
being in the wing & the up close pic of the prop gives real perspective as to her sheer size. you have 1 lucky ass to be able to sit in hughes's position 8) let alone touch the throttles!!

_________________
tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!


Last edited by tom d. friedman on Tue Dec 09, 2014 9:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 5:04 pm 
Offline
2000+ Post Club
2000+ Post Club
User avatar

Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2005 6:23 pm
Posts: 2956
Location: Somewhere South of New Jersey...
Just curious but why does a section of the forward upper fuselage appear to be de-skinned...?

_________________
"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 5:41 pm 
Offline
1000+ Posts!
1000+ Posts!
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 01, 2004 6:11 pm
Posts: 1917
Location: Pacific Northwest USA, via North Florida
For obvious reasons, I started wondering about the time this bird was in storage after Hughes lfew her the one time and long before she went on public display. The museum folks said they were unaware of ANY photos taken of the flying boat in the hangar when Hughes was still alive as he swore his people to secrecy when working on the bird. They also said he'd had the bird painted a different color, re-engined her and strenghtened the tail (our guide said the reason the flight was so short was people he'd had in the tail radioed up front that they were looking at daylight through gaps in the seams back there and to get back on the water right away, otherwise the tail might come off). This is all I’ve found so far: http://www.air-and-space.com/sprucea.htm This must have been taken in prep for having the bird moved out after Hughes passed away: Image
APG85 wrote:
Just curious but why does a section of the forward upper fuselage appear to be de-skinned...?
I assume it was done when it was on display in LA near the Queen Mary, I'd read that they'd had a platform you would walk up and look into the cockpit from the outside. Wouldn't it then make sense to give people a better way to see inside? If it isn't that, then I have no clue why.

_________________
Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 6:01 pm 
Offline
Long Time Member
Long Time Member
User avatar

Joined: Sun Oct 10, 2004 4:43 pm
Posts: 7501
Location: northern ohio
the deskinned section is to show tourists / museum guests the meticulous carpentry construction, & the skill it took to make hercules from the ground up, by hand. only my opinion but i think it detracts from the display.

_________________
tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 6:38 pm 
Offline
2000+ Post Club
2000+ Post Club
User avatar

Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2005 6:23 pm
Posts: 2956
Location: Somewhere South of New Jersey...
I agree. You wouldn't strip the fabric off of the Spirit of St. Louis so why do it to this aircraft...?

_________________
"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 7:04 pm 
Offline
1000+ Posts!
1000+ Posts!
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 01, 2004 6:11 pm
Posts: 1917
Location: Pacific Northwest USA, via North Florida
tom d. friedman wrote:
the deskinned section is to show tourists / museum guests the meticulous carpentry construction, & the skill it took to make hercules from the ground up, by hand. only my opinion but i think it detracts from the display.
And that would make sense to a degree if the public got close enough to that section to be able to see that.
After last weekend, I now realize how much has changed on the H-4 since Hughes flew her the one time. I've been told that Hughes did a lot of modifications and changes to the bird while she was being kept ready to fly again over all those years.
(I still wonder if Hughes seriously ever intended to fire her up and a flight again after a few years had past from the one time she got off the water).

_________________
Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 19 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 29 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group