Rick65 wrote:
The various airship hangars are stunning buildings.
The massive height and volume must make even a cathedral seem small.
Do many of them remain and are any still being used for their original purpose?
Let me see what I can spit out. Tilamook Oregon has 1 wooden hangar left, the other burnt down in the 1990's. This hangar is used as a museum, I believe. Moffett Federal Airfield has 3 hangars, Hangar 1, which is the hangar with curved doors (and now no skin, AFAIK) and two wooden hangars identical to those in Tilamook. Until recently, Airship Ventures operated a Zeppelin NT out of one of those hangars. The former NAS/MCAS Tustin has 2 wooden hangars, both of the same design as Tilamook. One hangar is used extensively for movie/TV production and the other is currently home to the Worldwide Aeros, Aeroscraft project. I've personally been in this hangar, and its amazing. The former NAS Weeksville has one hangar remaining, which is similar to Hangar 1 at Moffett. It is used by aerostat contractors for DoD currently, and in the past has been used by airship companies as well. In the past, there was a wooden hangar similar to those in Tilamook, Moffett and Tustin, but it too burnt down in the 1990's, taking a few airships with it. The former NAS Lakehurst, has 3 hangars, one large hangar the rigid's of the early days were stored in, and 2 of the wooden hangars. There is a LTA project there, the LEMV, as well as it tends to be the summer home of the MZ-3A.
Additionally, at one point, NAS South Weymouth, in Boston, had one wooden blimp hangar. NAS Glynco, Brunswick, GA had 2 of these wooden blimp hangars. NAS Richmond, in South Florida, had 3, all of which were destroyed in a fire during a hurricane in 1945. NAS Houma, Lousiana, had 1 of these wooden hangars. NAS Hitchcock, between Galveston and Houston, had one as well.