Boy Scouts explore air and space

Members of Sisters Boy Scout Troop 139 spent Saturday, December 1, learning about aviation and space at the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville. The museum is home to Howard Hughes' flying boat HK-1, or "Hercules," more commonly known as the Spruce Goose. The centerpiece fixture of the museum is the largest wooden plane ever constructed, with a wingspan of nearly 320 feet, and was designed to carry 750 troops during World War II. Surprisingly, the plane is made primarily out of birch and not spruce.

Saturday morning began with a merit badge class, which included the history of aviation, flight concepts, controls, preflight checks and, of course, construction of paper airplanes. Robert Jordan, education coordinator for the museum, entertained the scouts with stories of flight while teaching them about the basic principals of aviation.

Following the completion of the class, the scouts went next door to the Wings & Waves indoor water park, which include slides, a wave pool and other assorted fun water activities. This aviation-themed water park is unique in that it has an actual Boeing 747 mounted on the roof. Water slide participants then climb stairs into the body of the 747, where the slides begin. The building itself is an engineering marvel, and was specifically designed to carry the added weight of the 747 for both gravity and earthquake loads.

After a well-earned spaghetti dinner, Jordan gave Troop 139 a private tour of the Space Museum building. The scouts learned about the history of the space race between Russia and the United States and were able to observe a Gemini capsule and flight suit, a working prototype Mars rover, as well as a variety of rockets and satellites. In addition to spacecraft, this building contained additional aircraft, including the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, which was designed and constructed in the early 1960s and still holds the world speed record (the unclassified record is Mach 3+ or about 2,000 mph).

Troop 139 is chartered under the Sisters Kiwanis Club. For more information contact Gene Trahern, assistant scoutmaster, at 541-549-1221.