World War II Blimp Hangar burns down

[Superhero 9055]

 

There are / were 2 massive world war II era blimp hangars in the city of Tustin where I live. One of them burned down yesterday. They've been along my commute for the past 8 years, and to have one of them gone just FUCKING SUCKS.

Each hangar is / was 1000' long, 300' wide, and the equivalent to 17 stories tall. Read somewhere they you could play a football, soccer and basketball game in the hangar at the same time, that's how large they were.

There's a lot of development around the hangars, and the reason for the fire is still unknown. I just hope it's not arson to make room for more development.

 

https://apnews.com/article/historic-hangar-fire-california-8d278fbff167b680f44c169aa708db21

 

Quote

TUSTIN, Calif. (AP) — A raging fire Tuesday destroyed a massive World War II-era wooden hangar that was built to house military blimps based in Southern California, and authorities said the blaze could burn for days.

The Orange County Fire Authority said in a social media post that allowing the structure to collapse was the only way to fight the inferno, which was reported around 1 a.m. The cause was under investigation.

The agency released video of flames racing along the curved roof, which fell apart in sections. A huge plume of dark smoke was visible for miles around.

“Due to the dynamic nature of the fire, and the imminent danger of collapse, we have determined the most operationally sound method is to allow the structure to collapse, at which point ground crews can move in closer, and aggressively work to extinguish the fire,” the Fire Authority said.

Fire Chief Brian Fennessy said no injuries were reported. The fire smoldered into the evening.

The historic hangar was one of two built in 1942 for the U.S. Navy in the city of Tustin, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles. At the time, the Navy used lighter-than-air ships for patrol and antisubmarine defense.

According to the city, the hangars are 17 stories high, more than 1,000 feet (305 meters) long and 300 feet (91.4 meters) wide, putting them among the largest wooden structures ever built. The destroyed structure was known as the north hangar.

The Navy installation became a Marine Corps air station in the 1950s and closed in 1999. Fennessy said his agency was in contact with the Navy, which still owns the property.

Hollywood productions have used the hangars for TV shows and movies including “JAG,” “The X Files” and “Pearl Harbor,” and they’ve also appeared in commercials. In 1993, the site was listed by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the historic civil engineering landmarks of the 20th century.

“With all that in mind, it’s a sad day for the city of Tustin and all of Orange County,” Fennessy said. “But we are fortunate that no injuries have been reported and we are in a position to extinguish the blaze without putting firefighters at risk, albeit several days.”

The north hangar had been shuttered since it sustained roof damage during an October 2013 windstorm, according to the city."

 

[YGIFS 19460]

Oh the Humanity??!!?? 

Or not an infrastructure week?  I'm really not sure how to rule on this given the lack of Germans involved. 

[Brisketexan 107069]

Man, the engineering involved to build a facility big enough to hold six blimps or one Vic Mackey girlfriend.....what a loss.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10814]

Great documentary capturing the building and use of them. It you want to see a dirigible re-fuel off the deck of an aircraft carrier its got that too (16:00).

 

[Macanudo 13360]

That looks like the average Surly colon with rounds in the chamber.

[Brisketexan 107069]

Don't forget Texas's own bit of engineering history related to dirigibles, the Rainbow Bridge in Port Arthur: https://scholarworks.utrgv.edu/storiesfromtexas/26/#:~:text=Why was the bridge built,more than an engineering marvel.

Quote

Why was the bridge built so tall, 177 feet of vertical clearance, in that delta region? There was an important ship channel there and they wanted the tallest ship in the navy at the time, the USS Patoka, the be able to pass easily beneath it.

....

USS Patoka (AO–9/AV–6/AG–125) was a replenishment oiler made famous as a tender for the airships Shenandoah (ZR-1), Los Angeles (ZR-3) and Akron (ZRS-4). It was also notable in that its height (177 feet (54 m)) figured prominently in the design of the Rainbow Bridge in Texas (the bridge design required that the Patoka, then the tallest ship in the U.S. Navy, could sail under it; however, it never did).

 

[Macanudo 13360]

Goodyear used to have a blimp stationed in Houston.  The hangar was on 45N around 1960/Spring Cypress.

[hullabelew 3730]

I hate to hear this.  My 6th grade teacher was a pilot for one of the blimps in WWII.  Always interesting to me.   

[Not a cat 5822]

There's another one of those big ass blimp hangers near Tillamook, OR.  Or at least there was 20 years ago when I was there.

[Your Mom 4985]

There goes Ice Cube’s day.

[Felix 645]

It's a damned shame.  I, too, hope it wasn't arson.  @Paco was stationed at Tustin when it was MCAS Tustin.  He has some great stories about that hangar. 

[Hawndoh 2409]

I'm surprised it wasn't turned into a Bass Pro Shop years ago.

[Brisketexan 107069]

Also, just realized I was a block away from that hangar this summer -- the boy flew in to meet us in California straight from overseas, and he needed pick up a variety list of things, so we hit that Wal-Mart super center a block away.  Then a coupla days later, we had a kick-ass izakaya dinner at Honda-Ya, right off of main street.

[Elvis 3442]

I'm going to start telling people that my father was a blimp pilot.  That should make for some interesting small talk.  I'm going to need some bull shit to back it up though.

Was anyone else's dad a blimp pilot?

[Yarbr 123]

I had a friend whose dad flew the Goodyear out of the Spring location. He’d fly over our neighborhood often. He also raised ostriches.

[UTCzech III 2966]

4 hours ago, Macanudo said:

Goodyear used to have a blimp stationed in Houston.  The hangar was on 45N around 1960/Spring Cypress.

Went to see Genesis at the Astrodome on their We Can’t Dance tour, they held their tour rehearsals in that hangar.  Also, grew up off of I-10 west of Sealy, whenever there would be a big UT football game they would sent the blimp out the Friday before and it would fly right over our house.  That’s all I got.

[Deej 77941]

6 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Don't forget Texas's own bit of engineering history related to dirigibles, the Rainbow Bridge in Port Arthur:

I really thought all my dead dogs were going somewhere nicer than Port Arthur. 

[Superhero 9055]

4 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Also, just realized I was a block away from that hangar this summer -- the boy flew in to meet us in California straight from overseas, and he needed pick up a variety list of things, so we hit that Wal-Mart super center a block away.  Then a coupla days later, we had a kick-ass izakaya dinner at Honda-Ya, right off of main street.

Honda-Ya is indeed kick-ass. Wife and I went there for our anniversary dinner. Over the years, we’ve tried pretty much everything on the menu and it’s all good.

Nexr time you’re in this area, DM me and I’ll buy you a beer. 

[Gil Bang 26287]

That hangar, in tustin, was part of Marine Corps Air Station Tustin, a Helicopter base, for many years.   Just a few miles from the old MCAS El Toro, which closed at about the same time.

[Upgrayedd 5917]

Grew up in Tustin and these hangers were an icon.  Would drive by down Red Hill on way to beach seemed like every other day during the summer and was in awe of them towering above the surrounding orange groves asparagus fields.  Such a bummer one of them is gone.

I am sure this accidental fire is in no way related to the potential use of Parcel 18 in Tustin Legacy.

 

[closetohumping 17873]

[Fudge Nuggets 19490]

They should rebuild it just for the hell of it.

[YGIFS 19460]

So the new Page/Plant/Jones album really did go over like a Lead Zeppelin?  

That's a weird, but very impressive, photograph.  

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

oh a little bit of humanity.

[Gil Bang 26287]

I just read that it's so smoky that they are closing schools today.

[texasdago 7773]

3 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

I just read that it's so smoky that they are closing schools today.

Oh, Houston?

[ClubWhatever 12332]

I can fix it.  My dad's a tv repairman.

[Chad Fuck 18178]

From what I understand, those things are really giant tinderboxes.  It's basically wood framing covered in plywood, with perhaps some asbestos cladding depending on when/where/who did the construction to gov contract.  It's a wonder any of them have lasted this long. 

About the Tillamook fire:  https://www.tillamookheadlightherald.com/news/blimp-base-devouring-inferno-reaches-25-year-anniversary/article_f676a39a-8cf7-11e7-a97f-bf02e56b217c.html

Quote

Each of the hangars were 1,072 feet in length, 296 feet wide and 192 feet in height at the crown – a total of seven acres of land under one roof, Gurling said – and used 33 million board feet of lumber.

“That’s enough for 279 three-bedroom homes,” Gurling said of the lumber alone.

The hangars were very wood; so woody, in fact, by 1992, the Guinness Book of World Records named the hangars among the largest free-standing wooden structures in the world.

 

[Brisketexan 107069]

9 minutes ago, Chad Fuck said:

The hangars were very wood; so woody,

Heh heh.

 

"woody"

[Chad Fuck 18178]

21 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Heh heh.

 

"woody"

[Bevo&Pevo 5534]

Hitchcock Tx FM 2004 says "Hi".

Hitchcock Naval Air Station Is A Historic WWII Blimp Base In Texas (onlyinyourstate.com)

 

[Superhero 9055]

On 11/9/2023 at 8:22 AM, Gil Bang said:

I just read that it's so smoky that they are closing schools today.

Not smoky. Asbestosy.

The school district sent a message Wednesday night saying all schools were closed because of hazardous particles in the air.

My kids’s schools are 3-4 miles up the road, and the schools said we’re fine, but they’re not going to have class on Monday because reasons. 

[Gil Bang 26287]

Hanger fire, thought to be extinguished, flared up again

[Chad Fuck 18178]

Not smoky. Asbestosy.
The school district sent a message Wednesday night saying all schools were closed because of hazardous particles in the air.

My kids’s schools are 3-4 miles up the road, and the schools said we’re fine, but they’re not going to have class on Monday because reasons. 

Yup

[Post Oak 20595]

Germany turned one of theirs into an all season watermark.

https://twistedsifter.com/2015/06/giant-waterpark-inside-an-old-german-airship-hangar/

 

[aggie08 21856]

A water park inside a massive German WWII hangar?

Fine, I'll do it:

I did Nazi that coming.

[Deej 77941]

1 hour ago, Post Oak said:

Germany turned one of theirs into an all season watermark.

https://twistedsifter.com/2015/06/giant-waterpark-inside-an-old-german-airship-hangar/

 

Au-swish Water Park

[Gatorubet 30827]

19 minutes ago, Deej said:

Au-swish Water Park

[Paco 1964]

I was stationed at MCAS Tustin for a couple years and spent a lot of time in those hangers.

[Superhero 9055]

On 11/12/2023 at 9:39 AM, Post Oak said:

Germany turned one of theirs into an all season watermark.

https://twistedsifter.com/2015/06/giant-waterpark-inside-an-old-german-airship-hangar/

 

That's cool. But is it better than a Great Wolf Lodge?

 

3 hours ago, Paco said:

I was stationed at MCAS Tustin for a couple years and spent a lot of time in those hangers.

So you were just... hanging out?

I'll let myself out now. Try the veal. Don't forget to tip your server.

[ScottS 1125]

Seems like an appropriate thread to post this.  Sergey Brin has too much money, decides to bring back the blimp and makes it really big.

The world’s largest aircraft breaks cover in Silicon Valley

Quote

As dawn breaks over Silicon Valley, the world is getting its first look at Pathfinder 1, a prototype electric airship that its maker LTA Research hopes will kickstart a new era in climate-friendly air travel, and accelerate the humanitarian work of its funder, Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

The airship — its snow-white steampunk profile visible from the busy 101 highway — has taken drone technology such as fly-by-wire controls, electric motors and lidar sensing, and supersized them to something longer than three Boeing 737s, potentially able to carry tons of cargo over many hundreds of miles.

“It’s been 10 years of blood, sweat and tears,” LTA CEO Alan Weston told TechCrunch on the eve of the unveiling. “Now we must show that this can reliably fly in real-world conditions. And we’re going to do that.”

A series of increasingly ambitious flight tests lie ahead, before Pathfinder 1 is moved to Akron, Ohio, where LTA Research is planning an even larger airship, the Pathfinder 3. The company eventually hopes to produce a family of airships to provide disaster relief where roads and airports are damaged, as well as zero-carbon passenger transportation.

For the next year however, the gigantic airship looks set to become a Silicon Valley landmark as its novel materials and systems are methodically put through their paces within shouting distance of companies like Google, Meta and Amazon. “I’m excited about the potential of not building just one airship, but laying the foundation for many airships to be built,” said Weston. “The innovations and the technologies that we’re about to demonstrate have the potential to lay the foundation for a new industry.”

The biggest aircraft in almost a century

At 124.5 meters long, Pathfinder 1 dwarfs the current Goodyear airships and even the massive Stratolaunch plane designed to launch orbital rockets. It’s the largest aircraft to take to the skies since the gargantuan Hindenburg airship of the 1930s. Although similar in appearance to that ill-fated airship, and using a passenger gondola supplied by Zeppelin, the Pathfinder 1 was mostly built from the ground up using new materials and technologies.

LTA’s airship uses stable helium rather than flammable hydrogen as a lifting gas, held in 13 giant rip-stop nylon cells and monitored by lidar laser systems. A rigid framework of 10,000 carbon-fiber reinforced tubes and 3,000 titanium hubs form a protective skeleton around the gas cells, surrounded by a lightweight synthetic Tedlar skin.

Twelve electric motors powered by diesel generators and batteries enable vertical take-off and landing. They can propel the Pathfinder 1 at up to 65 knots (75 mph), although its initial flights will be at much lower speeds.

This morning, the airship floated silently from its WW2-era hangar at NASA’s Moffett Field at walking pace, steered by ropes held by dozens of the company’s engineers, technicians and ground crew.

The whole operation occurred under the cover of darkness, not because LTA has something to hide but because the airship’s flight test program begins with the first rays of the morning sun. The first lesson its engineers hope to learn is how Pathfinder 1’s approximately one million cubic feet of helium and weather resistant polymer skin will respond to the warming effect of Californian sunshine.

“We have sophisticated methodology that allows us to replicate real-world conditions using static test stands,” said Jillian Hilenski, senior mechanical engineer at LTA. “However, dynamic on-ship flight tests provide the best data on the health and efficiency of the airship.”

Test, test, test again

At the start of September, the FAA issued a special airworthiness certificate for the Pathfinder 1 allowing test flights in and around Moffett Field and the nearby Palo Alto airport, and over the southern part of the San Francisco Bay.

Those tests will initially happen just a few feet off the ground, with the airship tethered to a mobile tripod mast. These will be followed by simple maneuvers around Moffett Field, before a series of flights out and over the Bay.

“The advantages of going over the water are multiple,” said Weston. “First of all, when you come off Moffett Field, the air is smoother over the Bay than it is anywhere else. That’s very important. And there’s not much in the way of traffic on the surface, so that’s a big plus as well.”

Safety is top of Weston’s mind as he works to reintroduce rigid airships to the skies of North America — and ultimately the world. The first 50 flights of Pathfinder 1 covered by the FAA certificate will allow flights no higher than 1,500 feet, and will use two pilots rather than the single pilot the airship was designed to need.

“I can count the number of companies in the lighter-than-air space on my hands, and we all have a lot to lose if anybody has a serious problem,” he said. Weston says LTA is working closely with the FAA to ensure that anything the company builds has a safe and sensible path to full certification. “The last maiden flight of an airship like this was the Graf Zeppelin II in 1938,” he noted during the interview. “The FAA wasn’t even around then.”

In a world of eVTOL air-taxis, electric aviation startups and hydrogen planes, Weston acknowledges that airships are only ever likely to be a partial solution. “I can’t see airships replacing aircraft,” he said. “But I do see a niche for airships to be part of the transportation architecture that reduces the carbon footprint of air travel.”

Another important niche could be responding to natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes. Sergey Brin also funds a nonprofit called Global Support and Development that aims to deliver humanitarian aid within the first 24 to 96 hours of a disaster.

Brin founded GSD in 2015 after using his own superyacht to deploy medics to the scene of a cyclone in the South Pacific. The nonprofit has since partnered with the nonprofit YachtAid Global, and now also has its own purpose-built vessel, the MV Dawn, that can swiftly transport dozens of doctors and aid workers, alongside life-saving supplies.

While Pathfinder 1 can carry about four tons of cargo in addition to its crew, water ballast and fuel, future humanitarian airships will need much larger capacities. They will also likely use zero-carbon technologies like hydrogen fuel cells for power, said Hilenski. That will involve a long, slow slog to validate the new technologies and to demonstrate, to the FAA and paying customers, that a new generation of super-large airships can match the generally excellent safety and reliability record of today’s commercial jets.

“What excites me about what we’ve done so far is that we’ve shown to ourselves, and we hope to show to the rest of the world, that we can scale in size and productivity,” said Weston. “And I believe in our potential to scale up again in the future.”

The FAA’s experimental certificate for the Pathfinder 1 expires in September 2024.

(Some other technical information here.)

Edited November 14, 2023 by ScottS
Added link at bottom. And OU Sucks.

[Your Mom 4985]

4 hours ago, Paco said:

I was stationed at MCAS Tustin for a couple years and spent a lot of time in those hangers.

 

56 minutes ago, Superhero said:

So you were just... hanging out?

I'll let myself out now. Try the veal. Don't forget to tip your server.

Nobody ever stole a blimp on Paco’s watch. 

[Biff Tannen 46258]

37 minutes ago, ScottS said:

Seems like an appropriate thread to post this.  Sergey Brin has too much money, decides to bring back the blimp and makes it really big.

The world’s largest aircraft breaks cover in Silicon Valley

(Some other technical information here.)

I had an idea in college for a glass-bottomed air ship.  I feel like it's still a good idea.

[bolverk 30400]

32 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

I had an idea in college for a glass-bottomed air ship.  I feel like it's still a good idea.

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/zeppelin-spanish-airline-low-emission-airships

Is the airship making a comeback?

A Spanish airline, Air Nostrum, has ordered ten hybrid airships, called Airlander, from a company building environmentally-friendly zeppelins. Deliveries are scheduled for 2026, according to a report from CNN.

UK-based Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) developed the Airlander to drastically cut aviation emissions, with the company saying its airships cuts emissions by 90 percent.

The 100-passenger airships will float using helium gas and will use electric propulsion, allowing a range of 300-400 kilometers (186-249 miles), according to HAV. It's worth noting that max speeds are well below the average of a traditional airliner. The Airlander will travel at 129 km/h (80 mph), while airliners travel at an average speed of about 804 km/h (500 mph).

HAV announced that the deal follows six months of "rigorous studies and modeling" of internal routes in Spain. The company also said the Airlander could one day be used for other short-haul routes, including Liverpool to Belfast (168 miles), Seattle to Vancouver (127 miles), and Oslo to Stockholm (263 miles). The airship, which has already undergone various flight tests, will fly at a maximum altitude of 20,000 feet.

Though it is lacking in the speed department, the Airlander requires little landing infrastructure, and it could potentially land closer to city centers, allowing passengers to make up a little time in airport travel. The main draw will likely be the Airlander's low carbon footprint, though HAV also aims to bring luxury and leisure back into air travel.

The airship's interiors have a spacious 1-2-1 seating configuration with some seats facing each other. Transparent walls allow impressive views outside the airship.

 

Early in the first video below, they show a portion of the floor is also transparent.

 

 

[Superhero 9055]

Furk. Just got an email saying all schools in the district are going virtual tomorrow and possibly for the rest of the week. (The kids have all of next week off as well).

We’re far enough from the fire that our kids’ schools were supposed to be open tomorrow. But out of “an abundance of caution”, they are keeping all the schools closed.

Which makes no sense because the adjacent school district has a few schools closer to the fire than our schools, and they remain open.

 

 

Schools in other parts of the country have snow days. We have asbestos days. 😡

[Biff Tannen 46258]

6 minutes ago, bolverk said:

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/zeppelin-spanish-airline-low-emission-airships

Is the airship making a comeback?

A Spanish airline, Air Nostrum, has ordered ten hybrid airships, called Airlander, from a company building environmentally-friendly zeppelins. Deliveries are scheduled for 2026, according to a report from CNN.

UK-based Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV) developed the Airlander to drastically cut aviation emissions, with the company saying its airships cuts emissions by 90 percent.

The 100-passenger airships will float using helium gas and will use electric propulsion, allowing a range of 300-400 kilometers (186-249 miles), according to HAV. It's worth noting that max speeds are well below the average of a traditional airliner. The Airlander will travel at 129 km/h (80 mph), while airliners travel at an average speed of about 804 km/h (500 mph).

HAV announced that the deal follows six months of "rigorous studies and modeling" of internal routes in Spain. The company also said the Airlander could one day be used for other short-haul routes, including Liverpool to Belfast (168 miles), Seattle to Vancouver (127 miles), and Oslo to Stockholm (263 miles). The airship, which has already undergone various flight tests, will fly at a maximum altitude of 20,000 feet.

Though it is lacking in the speed department, the Airlander requires little landing infrastructure, and it could potentially land closer to city centers, allowing passengers to make up a little time in airport travel. The main draw will likely be the Airlander's low carbon footprint, though HAV also aims to bring luxury and leisure back into air travel.

The airship's interiors have a spacious 1-2-1 seating configuration with some seats facing each other. Transparent walls allow impressive views outside the airship.

 

Early in the first video below, they show a portion of the floor is also transparent.

 

 

Fuck yeah. Also, god dammit!

[Gil Bang 26287]

6 hours ago, Paco said:

I was stationed at MCAS Tustin for a couple years and spent a lot of time in those hangers.

if you don't mind, when was this?  Without googling, I'm guessing the base closed in the late 90's, because I worked in Irvine (Main and Jamboree) and it was still active in the early 90's. 

[Paco 1964]

if you don't mind, when was this?  Without googling, I'm guessing the base closed in the late 90's, because I worked in Irvine (Main and Jamboree) and it was still active in the early 90's. 

Late '94 to early '97. The base closures (El Toro and Tustin) had already been announced and they were working on soil remediation when I left.

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

11 hours ago, bolverk said:

 

 

"I really want to travel, but I also want to view giant art installations that look like someone being titty fucked."

 

"You're not going to believe this, but I've got great news."