The Spruce Goose, or H-4 Hercules—also called the flying lumberyard—only took flight once. It lifted some 70 feet off the water and flew for around a mile. That was to be the wooden behemoth's only moment of glory.

Built from laminated wood to conserve metal during the war, the Spruce Goose was, in fact, built almost entirely from birch. Howard Hughes himself detested the nickname for the plane, one of three "flying boats" he had been contracted to build for the government to the tune of 18 million dollars.

After its first and last flight, the Spruce Goose was kept in a specially designed hanger for 33 years. After Hughes's death in 1976, however, the plane was set to be disassembled. Saved at the last minute, the plane was displayed throughout the world before finally coming to rest in her custom-built home, the Evergreen Aviation Museum.

The Museum is home to many aircraft, from a replica of the Wright Brothers' 1903 Flyer to a Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird. There is a separate Space Museum that has numerous exhibits pertaining to space flight. An IMAX theater completes the complex.