Airships, Zeppelins and other Fanciful Sights

dayalmohamed:

oldblackandwhitephotos:

This is a view of the huge dirigible hangar with doors open at both ends at the NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California. Lockheed Missiles and Space Company under contract to the NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center was to use the hangar for construction and assembly of the nation’s first nuclear stage rocket engine.

Airplanes are on the ground at right, and in the background is San Francisco Bay. The ready-made “factory” structure was erected in 1931-1933, to house the dirigible Macon, which crashed off the California coast in 1935. It has been used by the Navy for blimps and aircraft.

The floor area 1,138 feet by 308 feet, covers over eight acres or enough to hold seven football fields. The height of the hangar is 198 feet, ample for the company to erect the RIET (Reactor-In-Flight Test) stage in an upright position. The program was eventually canceled.

View of the huge dirigible hangar with doors open at both ends at the NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California.

The only one not included appears to be Cardington. This was the British hangar, home of the ill-fated R-101 airship. It has also been used by Christopher Nolan to film a number of his movies, including “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight”.

Some of the other notable airship hangars in the world. Friedrichshafen was home of the German Zeppelins.

This is the airship dock for the USS Akron.

Once you have an airship, where on Earth do you park the thing? And no, the answer is not the Empire State Building, do you really want a ticket in New York? No, for the serious airship pilot, you need a hanger. These next bunch of images are also from the “Story of an Airship” book.