JohnB wrote:
One thing is for sure, the Hughes Hercules isn't going anywhere...it's a non-flying white elephant that would cost too much to move.
Worse case scenario...it will be there along with the loaned modern military aircraft like the Blackbird...and loaned/donated antique civil types and the former Evergreen types with clear titles (or they're not worth creditors going after).
Anyone know if the helicopter collection (assembled by a rotary wing operator in Oregon whose name I can't recall) is on loan or what it donated or purchased by the museum?I
It's a nice facility...too bad about the money & legal issues.
A few thoughts:
1. Indeed, the "Spruce Goose" is fully owned by the museum, and it fits into a pit that was built into the museum building -- indeed, the building was "built around" the plane. There is no chance that it will go anywhere else, anytime soon.
2. I would say that "every museum," but perhaps it's safer to say that "most museums" have some combination of exhibits that are owned by the museum, and some that are owned by others, and loaned to the museum. It is a fact of life in the museum "industry," and it probably always will. And a museum simply cannot control the exhibits that are owned by other people -- the owners can remove their property, simple as that. But EASM (Evergreen Air and Space Museum) will continue to go on -- I doubt it will go away, at least not in my lifetime. As for the money, essentially the museum "rents" the space in the buildings now, as other people actually own the buildings. But, in general, people who want to see the museum stay there and thrive have bought the buildings in bankruptcy sales, and I think that will continue, even if those people who now own the buildings might even get into financial difficulties. As for the planes, what have gone away might well be of the most interest to folks in this forum -- World War II "warbirds" -- but losing them, even including the B-17, haven't "made even the slightest dent" in the museum's ability to fill the buildings with interesting planes and other exhibits. For instance, the museum has the entire "Century Series" of jet fighter aircraft, many of which are now in the main museum as part of a new "Vietnam War" exhibit. Essentially, the WWII warbirds have been replaced with Vietnam-era jet fighters and helicopters.
3. But the Vietnam War exhibit is indeed filled with mostly "loaned" aircraft -- most from the National Museum of the United States Air Force, or other military museums. I'm not too worried that those will go away anytime soon.
4. I can check on the helicopters, but I expect most of them have been loaned to the museum. Still, it's a pretty amazing bunch of rotary aircraft, including a lot of crazy-odd Hiller contraptions, along with some really significant helicopters that show the history of rotary flight. But again, I doubt that there's much of any risk that any of the helicopters might go away.
5. In the end, I suppose the financial troubles all go back to the museum's expansion, when they built the Space museum building, the IMAX theater building, the waterpark building, and some other facilities. And then Evergreen International Aviation went out of business, then its founder, owner, and CEO, Del Smith, passed away -- and it has been shown that Mr. Smith and his company was perhaps "the financial glue" that kept everything going over at the museum. And while there is a lot of relief that the museum is now operating properly under non-profit laws and such, the fact is that they are now "tenants," and subject to their relationships with "landlords." It certainly can't be the best way for a museum to go about its business, but if the landlords come and go and sell the buildings to others, those buildings aren't really "good for anything else other than hosting an aviation museum." So, in the end, I certainly believe that the museum will continue to operate pretty much as it always has, but like any renter, it will live with a certain amount of uncertainty, since it "doesn't own its home."
I certainly enjoy the museum, I have been a member for most of the time it has been in existence, and I fully intend to keep on supporting it by keeping my membership going. I usually wind up going over there at least a couple of times per month -- why not spend a day at the museum, as opposed to sitting around the house, watching TV? Or wasting hours, yammering along in some Internet forums?
Let me end this with a little experience I had at the museum the other day. I was leaving the Space Museum building, and I was talking with the volunteer docents there about going back over to the "Aviation Museum building, or whatever it's called." And they all chimed in, "We just call it the Air." As in the museum's official name -- the Evergreen Air and Space Museum. They are "Space," the others are "Air." Works for me.