These were not hard to miss as they are easily the largest things on the landscape as you drive by...
Here are a few shots from the internet (one aerial and the other of the same building above, aka Hangar 2):
(photo credit from "Hope for both Tustin blimp hangars" post from www.blimpinfo.com)
(photo credit from wikipedia, "Marine Corps Air Station Tustin")
The friendly barista at Portola confirmed Bert's suspicion that these buildings once housed zeppelins or airships. I mean, what else could these have been used for, right?
These were the shots I took as we drove away from the mall...
It's so long, I could barely get it all in my shot...
Aaaaand there's the other half...
and the end of Hangar 2...
In the distance is the other Hangar...
Built in 1942 and designed to hold blimps and zeppelins, these buildings are 17 stories high and are among some of the world's largest wooden structures EVER. That was quite neat to learn. There are only a few of these airship hangars left in the world including one in Tillamook, Oregon, two in Moffet Field in California, these two in Tustin, and one in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Interestingly enough, it was at Lakehurst, NJ where the Hindenberg zeppelin exploded and infamously that image became the cover of Led Zeppelin's first album, released in 1969.
Articles about these hangars:
"Airships of the future take shape in Tustin" OC Register, August 21, 2013
"Hangar collapse damages $35m zeppelin in Tustin". ABC7.com, October 7, 2013
"Damaged blimp hangar in Tustin worries O.C. officials" LA Times, October 14, 2013
"Submarine-style airshop prepares for first flight" OC Register, August 18, 2014
I quite liked this historical account which details EVERYTHING you need to know about these structures:
The Tustin Hangars - Titans of History
Plus more info here:
Airship Hangar
And in honor of these zeppelin hangars, Led Zeppelin's self-titled first album:
The album cover features the explosion of the Hindenburg moments after catching fire in 1937. The LZ 129 Hindenberg disaster which occurred when the airship tried to dock in Lakehurst, New Jersey. This was one of the first tragedies to be recorded in real time and marked the end of an era of airship travel. Yeah, not so safe that was. Now you just see airships in steampunk drawings, novels or Studio Ghibli movies.
2 comments:
Rad looking buildings. Amazing how tall they are, too. I wish I had seen the ones in Tillamook! Must have been far away from the cheese, haha.
Yeah, they look so imposing from a distance then when you drive by, you can really see how tall and ginormous they are! i wish they did tours or something. I didn't know about the hangar in Tillamook either until researching for this post.
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