Feature
by Celeste Flint
One would think that the 120-foot doors would let some light in, but even with the doors wide open, the ceiling is barely visible.
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Tillamook Air Museum Displays Aviation History
Museum staff have set up this P2V-7 Neptune, built in 1954,
so visitors can look inside the cockpit. --Celeste Flint, photo
The size of the hangar amazed the crowd, but they were distracted by the airplane performing barrel rolls in the sky. Pilot Swede Ralston turned the plane and flew through the hangar that stood 192 feet off of the ground. The hangar he flew through as the last act in his final air show in 1952 still stands today as a piece of history holding pieces of history.
The Tillamook Air Museum Corp. has displayed pieces of airplane history in the hangar since its opening in 1994.
Private plane collectors formed the museum to provide a place for storing their planes. When they found out that they could rent the old blimp hangar, which the Port of Tillamook Bay owns, they decided to open the museum and sell tickets to pay rent.
When visitors stand several miles away from the building, they can clearly read "Air Museum" on the roof. One would think that the 30-ton, 120-foot doors would let some light into the building, but even with the doors wide open, the ceiling is barely visible. The smooth concrete floors stretch across an area equal to six football fields, and the airplanes rest in unmarked clusters with their according informational signs. "The bulk of the aircraft are from World War II. Most of them are war planes," Bob Favret, the museum curator, said.
Painted in its traditional gray, an F-14A Tomcat meets the visitors at the entrance into the main hangar area. The engines and sharp edges of the jet contrast the classic feel of the rest of the museum. If the size of the plane doesn't impress the observer, learning that it can fly up to 1,544 mph will. The museum is permanently leasing the jet from the military.
Although the Tomcat grabs most people's attention, the majority of children flock to cockpits set up for their interactive imagination pleasure. One can't help but laugh when zooming and gattling gun sounds rise from the display.
Next to the lone cockpits stand several rare planes. Out of the 34,000 P38 Lightning Fighter planes produced, only 20 are left, and only five are flyable. The museum has one; it's worth $3 million.
Thirty of the 40 planes stored at the museum are flyable, but they are rarely, if ever, flown. "I would rather not see them in the air," manager Larry Schaible said. "Many people think they should be flown, and they end up crashing them." However, the owner of most of the planes flies his P38 from time to time.
Children's favorite plane is the Grumman J2F-6 Duck. "It's an amphibious plane," Mr. Favret said. The Duck was the first "flying boat" created. Its landing gear has floats that allow it to land on water.
The planes are preserved because of the depth of memory and history they foster, Mr. Favret said. The museum has a P-51 Mustang displayed, which was the primary airplane used by the Tuskegee Airmen, the first squad of black pilots.
Because the planes are rarely flown, they require little maintenance. However, restoration of the planes can cost anywhere from a few hundred thousand dollars to $1 million, Mr. Favret said.
Along with the planes, the museum has the old helium purification compressors still intact from when the Navy used them to fill the blimps. Massive tanks were built underground to store helium.
Various military vehicles are also on display, including an old airplane tow, which looks like a small tank.
When the hangar was built in 1943, another one was built alongside it. The second hangar took only 30 days to complete. The Navy put the buildings into service immediately. Blimps arrived before the hangar was done.
Together the hangars hosted eight K-class helium blimps, which were 252 feet long and used specifically on the Pacific coastline. They could stay aloft for three days at a time.
After World War II ended, the buildings were rented to various companies. For the majority of the time, lumber companies stored lumber in them.
Blimp companies also used the hangars to work on smaller blimps they built for advertising. One of the blimps the company designed, which features a green alien on it, was donated to the museum.
From 1989 to 2000, the government used the building to build and repair aerostat balloons. U.S. customs used these balloons to help with enforcing drug bans.
During World War II there was a steel shortage, so the hangars were built almost entirely out of wood. In 1992, one of the hangars was storing 135,000 bales of hay when it caught on fire and burned to the ground.
Today, the remaining hangar is put into dual use. "The museum is so large; less than half of the museum is used to store the aircraft," Mr. Favret said. "Areas are available for storage: recreational vehicles, motor homes, boats, lumber." Renting out the extra space helps the museum meet its budget, Mr. Schaible said.
In addition to renting storage space and housing the planes, the museum runs a gift shop and a '40s- and '50s- style cafe.
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