Aviator Café

Name: Aviator Café
Address: 500 NE Captain Michael King Smith Way, McMinnville, Oregon, 97128, US
Telephone: (503) 687-2414
Price range: $
Rating: 5

$ • Cafe

Hours:
500 NE Captain Michael King Smith Way, McMinnville
(503) 687-2414

About Aviator Café

The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum is a major attraction featuring three separate buildings dedicated to aviation and space history. The centerpiece of the museum is the actual Spruce Goose, the massive wooden aircraft built by Howard Hughes that flew only once. This incredible engineering feat, 90% made from wood and standing with no supports, is a mindboggling sight. Many visitors consider it the highlight and the thing to see. For an additional fee, a guided tour of the Spruce Goose allows guests to go onto the upper deck and see the cockpit. This tour is frequently described as well worth it, with the volunteers and guides doing a great job explaining the various parts of the aircraft and providing so much detail.

The museum's other buildings offer tons of cool vehicles and exhibits. The space building walks visitors through the space race, with rockets on display from the earliest versions to a huge Titan missile. The exhibits also highlight Women's contributions to aviation history and blend in pertinent cultural events, such as featuring prominent African Americans including the three mathematicians who figured out how to get John Glenn into orbit. The main building contains the history of aviation from the Wright Brothers to the beginning of commercial aviation, with tons of aircraft on display. A third building houses a theater for IMAX films.

Additional attractions include an indoor water park where it looks like you can slide out of the top deck of a Boeing 747. The museum has a gift shop with many interesting items for sale. Volunteers throughout the museums are happy to help, and visitors really enjoy listening to them for more context. The museum provides lots of great aviation history and is a place visitors really enjoy.