Re: [COUPERS] question for Oregon Coupers

[Bob Saville]

Good Morning Mary, Paul and the rest of you coupers out there,     I see Mary has already answered your question Paul, but here's a little bit more to add to it.....(taken from some information  that I got while I was there)     In 1942, the U.S. Navy began construction of 17 wooden hangers to house the K-class blimps being used for antisubmarine coastal patrol and convoy escort. Two of these hangers were built at Naval Air Station Tillamook (NAST) commissioned in December 1942 to serve Oregon-Washington coastal area.     Construction of the two hangers was rushed to completion. Hanger "B" was the first one built and was completed in spring of 1943. Hangar "A" which was tragically destroyed in a 1992 fire, was completed in only 30 days.  Amazingly, there were no serious injuries or deaths on the whole project.     Stationed at Tillamook was Squadron ZP-33 with a complement of  8 K-ships.  K-ships were 251 feet long and filled with 425,000 cu. ft. of helium.  With a range of 2,000 miles and an ability to stay aloft for up to 3 days, they were well suited for coastal patol and convoy escort.  Naval Air Station Tillamook was decommissioned in 1948.     Since 1994, the remaining hangar has been home to one of the finest collections of privately owned WWII flying aircraft in the nation.     Hangar "B is 1,072 feet long, 192 feet high (over 15 stories) and 296 feet wide. It covers ofer 7 acres (enough to play six football games)     Just as a comparison of size, the Hindenburg was 803'10" long and 135'1" high so it would have taken nearly the entire hangar to enclose it.  BUT, the doors of "Hangar B" were only 120 feet high, so the Hindenburg would not have been able to get inside.       Last Summer the "Oregon Ercoupe Erforce" had a scheduled fly-in there. I made previous arrngements with the Museum Director so they'd be expecting us 'en mass'. They were very gracious hosts, giving each of us a $2 discount on admission to the museum, had a room set up for us to have 'private' lunch and answered our many questions throughout the day.     We enjoyed the entire facility including the gift shop which I thought had quite reasonable prices compared to other 'exclusive' type gift shops I've been in.     That hangar is the largest wooden structure in the world and it can hold Bob Saville N3396H,415C Eugene, OR Oregon wingleader, EOC "Keep Coupes Flying"   MARY CORRINGTON wrote:  Yes, Paul, It did burn down.I'm not sure when, but it was caused by hay that was stored in the hangar catching fire.The history of it can be seen in the movies that they show there and are included in the price of the admission to the Museum. Pretty awesome, huh! Did you know about the airplane that flew through the hangar? Lots of history there. Well worth a visit. Tailwinds.....Mary N52WT -----Original Message----- From: Paul Anton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: ERCOUPE <coupers@topica.com> Date: Saturday, July 15, 2000 04:18 PM Subject: [COUPERS] question for Oregon Coupers  Hello all you Oregon Coupers. I just took a run down to Tillamook today to view the blimp hanger and its contents. I can see that there was a second hanger originally. Did it burn down? If so when? I was awed by its size. What a mass of old dried wood should it ever catch fire. And all those priceless planes inside. They wanted to keep my Coupe and give me the P-38 but I told them I couldn't afford the gas. <G> Cheers: Paul N2273H The visibility was at least 100 miles what a fine day for flying. ________________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A  The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics ________________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A  The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics ________________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics