Saturday, October 26, 2013 (Olde Stone Village RV Park, McMinnville, OR)

It was a cloudy cool morning when we headed over to the Evergreen IMAX Theatre for the 10:00 movie...Fighter Pilot, Operation Red Flag.  The temperatures have certainly cooled down from the 22.8C/73F that we enjoyed the first afternoon we were here. Today, the high is 59F/15C.

We were the first ones to enter the theatre so had our choice of seats.  More people arrived shortly after...in total about a dozen people were there to watch the movie.  It was excellent...here is the description...
"At Red Flag, the international training exercise for the air forces of allied countries, hundreds of pilots meet for the most challenging flying of their careers. The object is to make the exercises as real and challenging as possible — to take the pilots, ground crews, mechanics and rescue personnel to the limits of what they can handle. The film follows Captain John “Otter” Stratton as he makes his way through this extraordinary event held in the desert of Nevada. As he participates in the exercise, he realizes that being a hero is not quite as simple as he once believed. He notices team members who work all night rebuilding engines and re-installing them into his aircraft so he can keep flying and training. There are people who rise at 4:30 a.m. each day to scour the runways for tiny pebbles that can get sucked into engines and kill pilots. There are people who practice rushing into a flaming mockup of a crashed aircraft, so if there is a real accident, they will be ready to save the pilot. In the flying exercises, John realizes there are other pilots who aren’t just out to prove themselves — they are helping him — watching his back, taking personal risks to cover his mistakes. And he is doing the same for them."

After the movie, we walked over to the Aviation Museum to pick up the picture of us that was taken in the Spruce Goose cockpit...we had totally forgotten about it yesterday! 

The rest of the day was spent inside in front of the fireplace.  I finished my draft of yesterday's blog and then passed it over to Steve to elaborate more on all of the different aircraft we saw at the museums.

I did get back outside briefly...to walk up to mailbox area to mail a sympathy card to a friend in our ATV club.  We rode many times with Bill and Jean Cozens. Just as we were getting ready to leave Canada, we received news that Jean had pancreatic cancer and was in palliative care...only days later, we received news of her passing.  She had such a zest for life and was so active, loving outdoor activities...she will be dearly missed. Unfortunately we will not be able to attend the Celebration of Jean's Life being held next Saturday at Lake Cowichan, BC...our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, Bill.

Another affirmation of our decision to follow our dreams and embark on our current lifestyle.

Friday, October 25, 2013 (Olde Stone Village RV Park, McMinnville, OR)

Our neighbours from across the street, Dave, Alison, Jeff and Lynn, are leaving this morning, so we wished them safe travels and then headed over to the Evergreen Aviation Museum.  It was another foggy morning...

The whole complex is huge!  The Space Museum building is closest to the RV park...this is the front of it (the back of it is in the picture above)...

Directly opposite...and quite a distance away is the Aviation Museum...between the 2 buildings, set off to the side, is another huge building that houses the theatre.  There is also another building that contains a water park and they plan on building a lodge soon. There is plenty of parking between the buildings.  This is the front of the Aviation Museum.

After purchasing our tickets ($25 each which includes admission to the Aviation Museum, the Space Museum and one IMAX Theatre movie), we went over to the theatre for the 10:00 movie..."Fighter Pilot" was playing and that was the one we wanted to see. 

We entered the theatre to find only one other couple...not very busy this time of year.  We waited...and waited for the movie to start and then at about 10:10 a theatre worker came in to say that the projector for Fighter Pilot...Operation Red Flag was broken. We could either come back later for one of the other movie showings or return tomorrow morning at 10:00, hopefully the projector for that movie would be fixed. We decided to return tomorrow.

So we went back to the Aviation Museum where we learned that there was a guided tour starting at 11:00.  Since we had a little time to spare, we headed right over to the Hughes H-4 Hercules better known as the Spruce Goose to take a look. It's actually made of Birchwood. It is the main draw at the museum and is absolutely huge!

We climbed the stairs up to the viewing area for the cargo bay. It feels like you are boarding a ship rather than an aircraft.
This is the view looking towards the tail section. That dark spot at the far end is a 5 1/2 foot tall door and the mannequin on the right is 6' tall. The red canisters are for the CO2 fire suppression system. The beach balls were used in the wings and wing floats for extra floatation just in case.
Looking towards the nose section...spiral staircase goes up to the flight deck...

There was the miniature set used in the filming of The Aviator movie...

They also had a firearms display...

 

We took the tour with guide, Wayne...another full timer.  He was very informative, giving an almost two hour tour of the airplanes starting with the Wright brothers first flight all the way to the first jet fighter in WWII.  By the time it was over, our feet and backs were absolutely killing us from standing, so we sat down in the cafeteria with a coffee. I got Steve a gooey gluten free cookie that dislodged a filling. Sheesh...we just saw the dentist a few weeks ago! 

 

Steve had put on different shoes this morning and they seem to be aggravating his back so we walked back to the trailer to change them. 
On our way, Steve took this picture of the walkway.  Last evening we had been sitting outside when I noticed a motorhome (with a tow car) where there was no road.  Well apparently this old fart had mistaken this walkway for the road to the RV park!  Too funny!

You can see where he drove off the walkway...he ended stopping where the walkway curves to the right.  I guess he finally realized that he was where he wasn't suppose to be...he ended up slowly walking, somewhat stooped over, to the park office.  We heard him say to another fellow...guess I'm gonna need a tow truck. We didn't see him get out of his predicament...I guess he had help backing out..

There was an additional tour of the Spruce Goose that you can take...for $25, you are guided up into the flight deck and cockpit and get to sit in the pilot/co-pilot seats and get your picture taken.  We decided to do it...not sure if it was really worth the extra money. However it is a real piece of history and Howard Hughes sat there.

Looking out the cockpit window...Wow...look how far down those planes are!

Listening to the tour guide...

Flight Engineers position. Look at all those gauges!

Welcome aboard!

You can stand up and look out of the roof hatch above your seat. Peek-a-boo!



Looking back from the pilots seat. The flight deck is huge!

Wing access...

Inside the wing...during the flight test there were men with fire extinguishers inside the wing behind each engine! How would you like that job.

 
Flight Deck looking towards the cockpit...

Access to the fuel tanks...

After the tour of the cockpit and flight deck, we wandered around the museum...Steve taking more pictures.  This is the British de Havilland DH 100 Vampire (1966)

Boeing B-17 Bomber (1938)

German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Fighter (1941)

Worlds first jet fighter - German Messerschmitt Me 262 (1944)

Grumman TBM Avenger Torpedo Bomber (1945)

 Curtiss P-40N Warhawk (1943)

Lockheed P-38L Lightning (1944)

 German Messerschmitt Bf 109 (1944)

British Supermarine Spitfire Mark XVI (1945)

It was going on 3:00 and with the museums closing at 5:00, we thought we had better head over to the Space Museum.  It would really have been nice if the admission fee was for a 2-day pass. It's a lot to see and read in one day plus see a 45 minute movie.

Titan II ICBM carried a nuclear warhead 600 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima...

Nose cone...

Retrieving the Space Capsule...

Lunar Module and Moon Buggy...

WWII German V2 Rocket...

See the Rotor-cycle beside the yellow chopper...

Grumman OV-1D Mohawk (1967)

Corsair FG-1D (1945)

P51-D Mustang (1944)

Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird (1966)

McDonnell Douglas F-4C Phantom II (1963)

Russian MiG 21MF (1975)

Russian MiG-17A (1953)

Russian MiG-23ML (1967)

McDonnell Douglas F-15A (1977)

Just before 4:00...after 5 1/2 hours, I'd had enough, so I left Steve to finish his tour of the Space Museum and walked home. Ahhh...it felt good to sit down in my recliner!  About an hour later, Steve arrived home...we were both exhausted...and still hadn't looked at all the aircraft parked outside!  Needless to say, we didn't stray far from our recliners for the rest of the evening!