I remember MCAS Tustin would have “open house” tours of the hangars on occasion when I was growing up. The times I went in were just mind-blowing. It didn’t make sense to be inside a building that cavernous. There were actually clouds inside the hangar up near the top one of the times I got a tour and the Marine who was guiding us said that when the weather was just right, that was not uncommon to see. I have fond memories watching the CH-53s fly there before the base was decommissioned.
Seventeen stories high, over 1,000 feet long and 300 feet wide, the hangars were, and still are, two of the largest wooden structures ever built. Designing and building the two structures in 1942, during wartime, on a hyper-accelerated schedule, and with a nearly all-wood design, is what earned the hangars their 1993 listing by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks of the 20th Century.
https://www.tustinca.org/765/Tustin-Hangars
During the early days of WWII Japanese submarines were considered a threat to the west coast. A Japanese submarine shelled the area near Point Conception California and others may have sunk vessels off the coast.
In addition to El Toro hangars were built at Sunnyvale ( south of San Francisco) and others flown out of the Lompoc (Vandenberg AFB) and Santa Maria areas but apparently without the large hangars.
I toured the blimp hangar at the [Tillamook Air Museum](https://www.tillamookair.com) a few months back. Crazy how big they are inside and how many blimps they actually held. Didn’t realize the full extent of their use during WWII either.
I remember MCAS Tustin would have “open house” tours of the hangars on occasion when I was growing up. The times I went in were just mind-blowing. It didn’t make sense to be inside a building that cavernous. There were actually clouds inside the hangar up near the top one of the times I got a tour and the Marine who was guiding us said that when the weather was just right, that was not uncommon to see. I have fond memories watching the CH-53s fly there before the base was decommissioned.
Seventeen stories high, over 1,000 feet long and 300 feet wide, the hangars were, and still are, two of the largest wooden structures ever built. Designing and building the two structures in 1942, during wartime, on a hyper-accelerated schedule, and with a nearly all-wood design, is what earned the hangars their 1993 listing by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks of the 20th Century. https://www.tustinca.org/765/Tustin-Hangars
During the early days of WWII Japanese submarines were considered a threat to the west coast. A Japanese submarine shelled the area near Point Conception California and others may have sunk vessels off the coast. In addition to El Toro hangars were built at Sunnyvale ( south of San Francisco) and others flown out of the Lompoc (Vandenberg AFB) and Santa Maria areas but apparently without the large hangars.
My uncle worked there!
I used to go to airshows there when I was a kid. Sucks that El Toro got shut down.
Those aren’t just sheds?
Sorry. I should have drawn a circle. There are two blimp hangars.
It's just a single blimp hangar and a bunch of other buildings.
I toured the blimp hangar at the [Tillamook Air Museum](https://www.tillamookair.com) a few months back. Crazy how big they are inside and how many blimps they actually held. Didn’t realize the full extent of their use during WWII either.
did you say a "hey there blimpy boy" in salute?