One of a number of aviation museums visited on our recent holiday on West Coast USA was the fabulous Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum at Hood River, Oregon. We visited on the weekend of the September Fly-In normally attended by a large number of visitors but badly affected this year by nearby forest fires. The area around the airfield was filled with lingering smoke but a blue hole directly above the field allowed a few visiting aircraft to arrive and some of the museum’s own aircraft to take to the air. Happily this included the 100-year old Curtiss Jenny.
The museum itself is jam-packed with aircraft, many of which are very rare survivors of their type. It’s a real treasure trove of a place with a wonderful, friendly atmosphere.
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By: Mothminor - 24th December 2017 at 16:52
Having a quick resume of the year’s activities – finally got round to uploading this one to Youtube – Terry Brandt running the Curtiss OX-5 engine on the Jenny prior to flying – zooms in to the valve gear at approx. 0.15 to give a good view of the rocker arms, push rods,etc.
By: Mothminor - 21st October 2017 at 21:12
Video of WAAAM’s Curtiss Jenny –
By: Mothminor - 6th October 2017 at 10:15
Thanks for the additional info, J Boyle. I’m totally envious re your flights in the Boeing! It’s great to hear that it will still be flying for a few years. Really nice pic too 🙂
The variety of exhibits at the museum is quite astounding – we would’ve loved to have had more time there but our itinerary and road closures due to the fire in the gorge meant we had to leave a bit sooner than originally planned. Aside from the aircraft we enjoyed a ride around in the Model T Depot Hack and the fantastic Stanley Steamer steam-powered car – what a beautiful noise!
A few more pics – I was surprised to see the Aeronca on floats – that must’ve been real fun! 🙂
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By: J Boyle - 6th October 2017 at 04:23
The Boeing 40C is a recent acquisition, after years of spending the winters (non-flying due to Pacific Northwest weather) at the museum, it was bought by the WAAAM from its owner/restorer Addison Pemberton.
Some good news, the museum plans on keeping the aircraft, the oldest surviving flying Boeing, airworthy for the next few years. As part of the purchase agreement, Pemberton and his sons will be the Boeing’s sole pilots.
In early July, just prior to its sale, I was treated to a flight in the Boeing to a weekend fly-in in Lewiston, Idaho. The cross country flight was a lot of fun, flying over farms and towns that look like they haven’t changed much since similar aircraft flew the mail routes.
Since its restoration in 2008, Addison has flown the Boeing some 700 hours and given 6-700 persons rides in the four seat passenger cabin. It’s been a real honor to ride in it.
Over the past 10 years, I was fortunate enough to take a local flight and two longer trips to events in the Boeing. It’s certainly a contrast from the 777 flights I take from SEA to LHR.
Another recent addition is the black and gold aircraft seen in the first post, the sole flying Laird LC-1B-300 ‘Commercial’. It was acquired from Larry Howard who restored it from a basket case. Howard had earlier sold his 1927 Stearman C2 (which I believe is the oldest airworthy Stearman) to the museum.
Here’s a photo of the Laird as seen from the Boeing during a fly-past during the event at Lewiston shortly before being acquired by the museum.
The museum has an extensive collection of pre-war civil types (including a nice collection of the wartime L-2 to L-6 liaison aircraft) as well as an impressive collection of vintage automobiles. Hood River is east of Portland (the drive is throughout the scenic Columbia River gorge and well worth doing) and an easy drive from Seattle.
By: Mothminor - 5th October 2017 at 22:16
One of my personal favourites was the magnificent Boeing 40 –
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October 5, 2017 at 9:52 pm