UPDATE
Statement from the Curator Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum:
Evergreen Vintage Aircraft Inc., whose museum features historic planes including Howard Hughes’s gigantic wooden “Spruce Goose,” has filed for bankruptcy.
The McMinnville, Oregon-based company listed more than $50 million in assets and more than $100 million in liabilities in Chapter 11 papers yesterday in Portland, without giving a reason for the filing.
The museum also displays a large number of historically significant military and civilian aircraft:
- Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress 44-83785
- Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
- de Havilland D.H.-100 Vampire Mk.52
- Douglas A-1 Skyraider
- Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
- Douglas C-47
- Douglas DC-3A
- Foton-6 Space Capsule
- Unmanned version of the Vostok spacecraft (Russian space capsule)
- Grumman TF-9J Cougar
- Lockheed P-38 Lightning (this aircraft is currently for sale via www.platinumfighters.com)
- North American Sabreliner (T-39 Sabreliner)
- Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird
- Martin Titan II SLV Space Launch Vehicle
- McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle
- McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
- Mercury Space Capsule
- Messerschmitt Bf 109G-10/U-4 610937
- Messerschmitt 262 (Reproduction by Legend Flyers)
- Mikoyan i Guryevich MiG-17A “Fresco” (true Russian version)
- MiG-21 Mikoyan i Guryevich MiG-21MF “Fishbed-J”
- Mikoyan Guryevich MiG-29 “Fulcrum”
- NASA X-38 V-131R
- Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XVI
Sources: Business Week and Warbirds News
“The Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum has filed for bankruptcy. It has not. Evergreen Vintage Aircraft Inc., a for-profit corporation has filed for bankruptcy, not the non-profit museum, which is a separate entity. Evergreen Vintage owns 25 of the 133 aircraft on display in the museum, and loans them to the museum for public display. The rest of the 108 aircraft on display, including the Hughes H-4 Flying Boat (aka the “Spruce Goose”) belong to the museum, or are on loan from governmental museums such as the National Museum of the USAF, the National Museum of Naval Aviation, the National Museum of the Marine Corps, and the Smithsonian’s National Air & Space Museum or private individuals.
The museum is not closing, and remains open 7 days a week, 9 am to 5 pm; except for Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving. It continues to pursue its mission to “Inspire & Educate, To Preserve Aviation & Space History, and to Honor the Patriotic Service of our Veterans,” with or without the aircraft on loan from Evergreen Vintage.
Sincerely,
Stewart W. Bailey
Curator
Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum”