Airships ...

[Noha307]

Double post.

Last edited by Noha307 on Fri Jan 11, 2013 12:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Noha307]

Triple post! I'm on a roll!

[kscessnadriver]

I feel like I can post this. Taken yesterday from an airship. Sorry for the terrible glare, the windows aren't too photography friendly.

US Navy MZ-3A.

[shrike]

I love the fact that the navy brought back the rudder stripes for this one.
Kinda disappointed that it doesn't have one BIG star and bar on top

[kscessnadriver]

I love the fact that the navy brought back the rudder stripes for this one.
Kinda disappointed that it doesn't have one BIG star and bar on top

On top is the wrong place to put it, as very few people would ever see it. I believe there is one on the underside of the envelope in front of the gondola.

[shrike]

I love the fact that the navy brought back the rudder stripes for this one.
Kinda disappointed that it doesn't have one BIG star and bar on top

On top is the wrong place to put it, as very few people would ever see it. I believe there is one on the underside of the envelope in front of the gondola.

Look back through the pictures and most, if not all, have one on the top centre. Probably the largest one size there were regs for. The one on the fin just seems out of place along with the stripes and U.S. NAVY on the side

[kscessnadriver]

Look back through the pictures and most, if not all, have one on the top centre. Probably the largest one size there were regs for. The one on the fin just seems out of place along with the stripes and U.S. NAVY on the side

While it may not be authentic, it's nothing short of a miracle that they even have an airship.

[Rick65]

The various airship hangars are stunning buildings.
The massive height and volume must make even a cathedral seem small.

Do many of them remain and are any still being used for their original purpose?

[kscessnadriver]

The various airship hangars are stunning buildings.
The massive height and volume must make even a cathedral seem small.

Do many of them remain and are any still being used for their original purpose?

Let me see what I can spit out. Tilamook Oregon has 1 wooden hangar left, the other burnt down in the 1990's. This hangar is used as a museum, I believe. Moffett Federal Airfield has 3 hangars, Hangar 1, which is the hangar with curved doors (and now no skin, AFAIK) and two wooden hangars identical to those in Tilamook. Until recently, Airship Ventures operated a Zeppelin NT out of one of those hangars. The former NAS/MCAS Tustin has 2 wooden hangars, both of the same design as Tilamook. One hangar is used extensively for movie/TV production and the other is currently home to the Worldwide Aeros, Aeroscraft project. I've personally been in this hangar, and its amazing. The former NAS Weeksville has one hangar remaining, which is similar to Hangar 1 at Moffett. It is used by aerostat contractors for DoD currently, and in the past has been used by airship companies as well. In the past, there was a wooden hangar similar to those in Tilamook, Moffett and Tustin, but it too burnt down in the 1990's, taking a few airships with it. The former NAS Lakehurst, has 3 hangars, one large hangar the rigid's of the early days were stored in, and 2 of the wooden hangars. There is a LTA project there, the LEMV, as well as it tends to be the summer home of the MZ-3A.

Additionally, at one point, NAS South Weymouth, in Boston, had one wooden blimp hangar. NAS Glynco, Brunswick, GA had 2 of these wooden blimp hangars. NAS Richmond, in South Florida, had 3, all of which were destroyed in a fire during a hurricane in 1945. NAS Houma, Lousiana, had 1 of these wooden hangars. NAS Hitchcock, between Galveston and Houston, had one as well.

[kscessnadriver]

Look back through the pictures and most, if not all, have one on the top centre. Probably the largest one size there were regs for. The one on the fin just seems out of place along with the stripes and U.S. NAVY on the side

Now that I've thought about it, I'd hazard a guess as to why it's not there. If it was put in the exact same place, right on the top of the bag, it would be on a test patch, that is used to test the life of the envelope. Putting decal on that may change if the test patch works to show the effects of UV on the bag.

[maxum96]

The various airship hangars are stunning buildings.
The massive height and volume must make even a cathedral seem small.

Do many of them remain and are any still being used for their original purpose?

NAS Glynco, Brunswick, GA had 2 of these wooden blimp hangars.

They were torn down in 1971

1970


1971


1971



Both hangers weren't even 30 years old when torn down.

[The Inspector]

Tillamook Oregons air museum is in the remaining blimp hanger (the other one, full of hay, burned down years ago) and even though it's small compared to Moffett's hanger, walking in there is breath taking when you consider that it was built in less than 3 months and took the entire output of at least five lumber mills in the area cranking out dimensional lumber 24/7.

[kscessnadriver]

Tillamook Oregons air museum is in the remaining blimp hanger (the other one, full of hay, burned down years ago) and even though it's small compared to Moffett's hanger, walking in there is breath taking when you consider that it was built in less than 3 months and took the entire output of at least five lumber mills in the area cranking out dimensional lumber 24/7.

Indeed. I've been in one of the hangars at Tustin, which are identical. Once the airship was in the hangar, the thing looked tiny when you were on the opposite side of the hangar.

[The Inspector]

I've been told by several folks that someone with a twisted sense of humor (my kinda guy!) installed a basketball hoop about 150 ft off the floor on the inside of one end of Moffetts airship hanger

[kscessnadriver]

I've been told by several folks that someone with a twisted sense of humor (my kinda guy!) installed a basketball hoop about 150 ft off the floor on the inside of one end of Moffetts airship hanger

That wouldn't surprise me. Would be entertaining to watch somebody try to figure out how to make a basket.