The past week or so I saw the Spruce Goose and watched Leatherman tools being made. All in all not a bad week.
The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum was a splendid place to visit!
Worth the drive to McMinnville, OR!
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Where it all started (the Wright Brother's replica) |
I have to start by saying that the Spruce Goose is a really big airplane. Spruce or aluminum or even paper-mache, no matter, it's huge and it did fly!
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BIG! |
A lot of different airplanes, including WW2 aircraft from the US, Great Britain, Germany & Japan. The first jet fighter even.
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A LOT of airplanes! |
If you like aircraft it's worth the stop, they even had a couple of aircraft painted in Coast Guard colors. After a career in Coast Guard aviation I'm partial to CG aircraft.
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This was from before my time ('76-'97) |
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A rotor head I am intimately familiar with, on an earlier helo but the same MRH |
I was impressed by the personal stories that were sprinkled throughout the aviation museum. A mannequin in a period uniform of some type with a single page story of a person who wore that uniform.
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I really liked the slice of life stories |
That was the aviation museum, the space museum was on the other side of the parking lot. Space capsules, rockets, a launch pad, an SR-72 and an X-15!
When I was a kid the X-15 was a big deal.
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X-15 |
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SR-71 on the ground |
There are a large number of aircraft on display out side. My plan was to see them all after doing the inside, when I finished the rain was coming down in buckets so I didn't see the outside displays.
The Leatherman factory
I've always liked my Leatherman tool, got my first one around '88. When I heard the Leatherman factory gave tours I signed up!
You sign up at their retail store for the Wednesday or Thursday tours. It was interesting seeing the robots & the people & the raw materials. No photos allowed.
The retail store was worth a look if you are a fan of the tools, they have the older tools on display (I wish I could find that one I lost, I saw it on display) and the prototypes.
For what it's worth I had a Leatherman with a broken plier tip. At the store I was offered a new replacement (different model, mine was no longer made) right now or have mine repaired (6 weeks).
I took a new one.
It does not have the ruler on the side, I did not notice that when I decided on the swap... my mistake.
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The "Wingman" |