The World's Largest Public Domain Media Search Engine
Naval Air Station Moffett Field, Hanger No. 1, Cummins Avenue, Moffett Field, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara County, CA

Similar

Naval Air Station Moffett Field, Hanger No. 1, Cummins Avenue, Moffett Field, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara County, CA

description

Summary

Significance: In the nation's quest to provide security for the lengthy expanse of its coastlines the opportunity for air reconnaissance was realized by the futuristic Admiral William A. Moffett. Through his efforts, two Naval Air Stations (NAS) were commissioned in the early 1930s to port the two U.S. Naval Airships (dirigibles) he believed capable of this challenge. The NAS Sunnyvale was the Pacific Coast location selected, designed, and developed to port the U.S.S. MACON (ZRS 5). The immense structure, Hangar 1, designed to house the U.S.S. MACON, with its larger counterpart in Akron, OH, remain the two largest structures in the US without internal support. At the onset of WWII, the base was expanded with Hangars 2 & 3 which were designed to accommodate the smaller blimps and balloons used for reconnaissance, until the range of heavier than air aircraft (airplanes) was sufficient to patrol the coast...
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1117
Survey number: HAER CA-335-A
Building/structure dates: 1933 Initial Construction
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 94000045

The main types of airship are non-rigid, semi-rigid, and rigid. Non-rigid airships, often called "blimps", rely on internal pressure to maintain the shape of the airship. Semi-rigid airships maintain the envelope shape by internal pressure but have a supporting structure. Rigid airships have an outer structural framework which maintains the shape and carries all structural loads, while the lifting gas is contained in internal gas bags or cells. Rigid airships were first flown by Count Zeppelin and the vast majority of rigid airships built were manufactured by the firm he founded. As a result, all rigid airships are sometimes called zeppelins. In early dirigibles, the lifting gas used was hydrogen, due to its high lifting capacity and ready availability. Helium gas has almost the same lifting capacity and is not flammable, unlike hydrogen, but is rare and relatively expensive. Airships were most commonly used before the 1940s, but their use decreased over time as their capabilities were surpassed by those of aeroplanes.

Built in 1931-1932, designed by German airship engineer Dr. Karl Arnstein for the Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation, Hangar One covers 8 acres and can accommodate six American football fields. It measures 1,133 feet (345 m) long and 308 feet (94 m) wide and 198 feet (60 m) high. The hangar's interior is so large that fog sometimes forms near the ceiling. The "orange peel" doors, weighing 200 short tons (180 metric tons) each, are moved by their own 150 horsepower (110 kW) motors. At the time this was built, it was the largest building in the world without interior supports, providing an unusually extensive room for the construction of "lighter-than-air" airships. It was significant for U.S. Navy coastal defense capabilities during the peacetime era between 1932 and 1941 and construction of USS Akron and its sister ship, USS Macon, built in 1931 and 1933. These two airships were 785 feet (239 m) in length. In 1965, Hangar One was nominated as a US Navy Historic Site, and next year was designated as a Naval Historical Monument. In early 2000s plans to convert it to a space and science center were proposed but put on hold with the discovery that the structure was leaking lead paint and other toxic chemicals into the sediment in wetlands bordering San Francisco Bay. In 2011, work to remove the exterior panels began, requiring "the biggest scaffolding job in the history of the West Coast." The work was completed in 2012. Google top executives Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt proposed paying the $33 million cost of revamping Hangar One, in exchange for being able to use up to two-thirds of the floor space to shelter eight of their private jets. In 2014 NASA selected Planetary Ventures (a subsidiary of Google) to manage Hangar One and Moffett airfield and Google paid $1.16 billion over 60 years for the lease. Hangar One can be seen in various episodes of the Discovery Channel TV show MythBusters.

date_range

Date

1969 - 1980
person

Contributors

Historic American Engineering Record, creator
Moffett, William A.
NASA Ames Research Center
Integrated Science Solutions, Inc.
Moffett Field Historical Society
Page & Turnbull, Inc.
Porter, William A., photographer
place

Location

Sunnyvale (Calif.)37.36883, -122.03635
Google Map of 37.36883, -122.0363496
create

Source

Library of Congress
copyright

Copyright info

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html

Explore more

airships
airships