Photo Analysis of the Vought Sikorsky R&D Hangar

[Warbird Kid]

Thanks to our own Mark Allen M, he's uncovered an actual shot from inside the Vought Sikorsky R&D Hangar. The location of the CASC! Below is how I came to this conclusion.



The first time I looked at this photo, I said to myself "Wouldn't it be funny if this was our building?" I first noticed the steep stairs that lead to the roof. The set of stairs in the original shot looked identical to those in our shop. This was the first clue.




I next noticed the heavy duty I-Beam located to the left of the stairs. This matched up perfectly to the one I found. It makes sense since this is the center line of the entire hangar and would require a heavy duty support beam.




I then moved down the hallway. You can see the individual beams. What do you know? I found them! Since the war, Textron Lycoming reprised this entire bay of the hangar and added a second floor, thus changing the layout greatly. But if you know where to look you'll see the original structure.




So along with these beams are the bays in-between. Since 1944 they've been long bricked up and serve as smaller rooms. One being the archives and the other is the Avco room.




This very large bay on the left (which originally was open all the way to the other side of the hangar) also had dead-on identifying features that matched to building 6. First is the original brick wall that is in place.




You'll notice the same steel trestle design.




Also in place during the war was a large ventilation duct that has since been removed. Here is the bricked up spot where the duct work came through.




I think without a doubt, I've marked the location of this photo. Of course we can't recreate the original shot in the same location (because of the modifications made to the building in the 60's and 70's) but i think this suffices! What do you think?

[k5083]

Nice. Now you need to enlarge a big print of the old photo and hang it where folks can see how it was. With these pieces of the puzzle in place, maybe you can find other photos too.

August

[Jerry O'Neill]

Well done, Detective Chief Superintendent Foyle!

Last edited by Jerry O'Neill on Tue Oct 01, 2013 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Mark Allen M]

Nicely done! Without a doubt that's your building. I guess I should post the rest of the photos now

[whistlingdeath77]

Very nice Chris. Extremely interesting to put it all together