I first spotted the Tillamook Air Museum and its massive lettering when I was about a mile away, a telling indication of its scope and of its original purpose — that of a gargantuan World War II blimp hangar. First flown commercially by the Germans in , zeppelins were being positioned as a new and glamorous mode of travel, despite their myriad problems susceptibility to inclement weather, flammability, and long travel times — a transatlantic trip from Germany to Lakehurst, New Jersey, took hours.
Although these rigid airships never made a dent in the travel industry, they served a much more efficient purpose in the military during the world wars, when the Germans used them for everything from detecting where the British were laying mines in the sea to bombing England, Scotland , and Paris.
Pilots and their crews gave their aircraft a personal stamp of inspiration. It was their usability in combat that prompted the U. Navy to start constructing 17 hangars in the coastal states in The wooden hangars were built to house blimps that would escort convoys and scout American waters for German U-boats, with those floating out of Tillamook keeping guard over the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California.
Able to range up to 2, miles and stay aloft for three days, the blimps were integral to Navy operations, not only in U. Today, only a handful of these hangars remain, and Hangar B at the Tillamook Air Museum is one of them. As I entered the cavernous hangar, I spied lots of World War II aircrafts, including fighter planes decorated with nose art, a form of graffiti very often a buxomy, curvaceous woman , painted on the front fuselage — a tolerated breach of military uniformity that helped the pilots and their crews express a touch of individuality while also reminding them of what was waiting for them back home once the war ended.
A separate Exhibit Hall features artifacts from the war, from medals to uniforms, first-hand documents to archival photos. Nine blimps could have fit inside it. Six regulation football games could be played simultaneously within it.
