And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Akron-class airship USS Macon (ZRS-5) moored in Hangar One at NAS Moffett Field in 1933
There was a Navy blimp base from WWII down in the Galveston, Tx area, Hitchcock naval air station. It was sold off as surplus in the late 40's, and an oil & gas drilling contractor used the hangar for a time, refurbishing his drilling rigs; he could fit 4 full-sized rigs inside the hanger, with their mast fully erected (a derrick is about 150 ft in height, and a rig's equipment footprint when assembled is probably about 1/3 acre). The hanger mostly blew away with hurricane Carla in the early 60's, but the 4 concrete corner columns were still there the last time I was down there.
It's hard to truly understand how big those hangers are til you have been in one.
ReplyDeleteThere was a Navy blimp base from WWII down in the Galveston, Tx area, Hitchcock naval air station. It was sold off as surplus in the late 40's, and an oil & gas drilling contractor used the hangar for a time, refurbishing his drilling rigs; he could fit 4 full-sized rigs inside the hanger, with their mast fully erected (a derrick is about 150 ft in height, and a rig's equipment footprint when assembled is probably about 1/3 acre). The hanger mostly blew away with hurricane Carla in the early 60's, but the 4 concrete corner columns were still there the last time I was down there.
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ReplyDeleteIn that particular hanger, way way down at the far end were 3 C-130 aircraft parked. Walking in was kind of surreal. I liked Moffet and Onizuka
ReplyDeleteSurreal is the word for it.
DeleteDuring airshows, they used to do tethered hot-air balloon flights in it.