NAS Glynco, 1944

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 04/29/2020 at 12:00 • Filed to: wingspan, Planelopnik

7

30

(San Diego Air and Space Museum)

This remarkable photograph was taken in 1944 inside one of two blimp hangars at Naval Air Station Glynco in Brunswick, Georgia. Aside from the three !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! blimps, there is a fascinating collection of wartime aircraft. The majority are Curtiss SB2C Helldivers and Beechcraft SNBs (the Navy version of the Beech Model 18). There are also a couple of Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers in !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , a couple of Beechcraft GB Staggerwings, a Grumman Duck floatplane, and a handful of North American SNJs (the Navy’s version of the T-6 Texan). There is supposedly a Brewster SB2A Bermuda dive bomber hiding in there somewhere as well.

(San Diego Air and Space Museum)

Located on the southeast coast of Alabama in Glynn County (hence the name), NAS Glynco was active from 1942 to 1974 and was originally built to house and service blimps and other aircraft that patrolled the Atlantic coast searching for German U-boats. Due to a wartime shortage of steel, the gigantic hangars were constructed entirely of wood. Douglas fir was cut in Oregon and milled in Washington, then the hangar sections were assembled at the mill, numbered, disassembled, and then shipped to Georgia by rail for reassembly. Construction of the hangars began in September 1942 and was completed in just 14 months. When finished, the hangars were 1,058 feet long, 182 feet tall, and nearly 300 feet wide. They were among the largest wooden structures in the world at the time. Concrete pylons on either end of the hangars reached 150 feet into the air to support the massive hangar doors.

An aerial photograph of the completed station gives a sense of the scale of the base and hangars. The circular areas are mooring points for airships, and perpendicular runways have been marked out on the asphalt surface.

The station was slated for closure following the war, but the outbreak of hostilities in Korea caused the Navy to change its mind and keep the base open. A paved runway was constructed at Glynco to the north of the original blimp base, and the station became a training base for Naval Flight Officers, Navy air traffic controllers, and Combat Information Center (CIC) personnel. But even though the blimps evolved from their original WWII configurations, they finally gave way to Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft by 1960.

The original footprint of NAS Glynco is still visible at the modern site of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

After 29 years of exposure to the elements, and damage from Hurricane Dora in 1954, the wooden hangars were !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1971, and the station closed three years later. Today, the former blimp base is home to a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! that includes two driving tracks and street courses used for the Law Enforcement Driver Instructor Training Program, while the jet runway is now home to the Brunswick Golden Isles Airport.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

For more stories about aviation, aviation history, and aviators, visit !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Sources:
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! by Leslie Faulkenberry

MonkeePuzzle > ttyymmnn 04/29/2020 at 12:04

1

SUCH. A. BIG. SPACE. 

ttyymmnn > MonkeePuzzle 04/29/2020 at 12:06

0

Indeed. Check out the Brunswick Golden Isles Aiport link in the Sources  for more photos, particularly of the dilapidated structures and their demolition.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > ttyymmnn 04/29/2020 at 12:06

3

“NAS Glynco was active from 1942 to 1974 and was originally built to house and service blimps and other aircraft that patrolled the Atlantic coast searching for German U-boats.”

I would guess 1945 to 1974 would have been pretty slow on the uboat front.

/S

ttyymmnn > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 04/29/2020 at 12:08

0

Keyword: “ o riginally”

But yes. Not too many North Korean subs in those days.  While the blimps hung around for awhile, the base became much more of an airplane base once the runway was constructed.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > ttyymmnn 04/29/2020 at 12:10

2

lol, I know. I just like the idea of a report stating:

“ July 14-21, 1958

21 searches completed, 0 German submarines spotted. Search remains ongoing”

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 04/29/2020 at 12:13

0

Cool post.

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 04/29/2020 at 12:18

2

Thanks. This started off as a simple “Good Morning, Oppo” post, then morphed into something much more as I started digging into it. I think it’s absolutely fascinating. I also bet that summers down there were pretty miserable, especially on that sea of asphalt. 

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 04/29/2020 at 12:19

0

I kinda wonder how bad it got inside that hangar.

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 04/29/2020 at 12:28

0

Hadn’t thought of that, but it looks like there were lots of openings on the sides for cross ventilation. I bet it got pretty stuffy up where that photo was taken, though. 

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > ttyymmnn 04/29/2020 at 12:33

0

Wait so the whole big gray space in the aerial view was asphalt? That’s a truly massive expanse of asphalt. 

ranwhenparked > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 04/29/2020 at 12:37

0

Might have been a Soviet one out there once in a while, possibly with some minor malfunctions.

ttyymmnn > MiniGTI - now with XJ6 04/29/2020 at 12:37

0

Yup. They used asphalt instead of concrete because the blimps were lighter and the planes were smaller. The jet runway from the 50s was concrete.

PyroHoltz f@h Oppo 261120 > ttyymmnn 04/29/2020 at 12:39

0

Cool stuff.

In Tustin , CA the Marine Corp Air Station had  similar massive blimp hangars.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Corps_Air_Station_Tustin

ttyymmnn > MonkeePuzzle 04/29/2020 at 12:39

1

Big enough for a few surplus airplanes. SNJs on the left, and I think Helldivers on the right.

ttyymmnn > PyroHoltz f@h Oppo 261120 04/29/2020 at 12:41

1

Thanks. It seems there were a few around the country . BicycleBuck has posted photos of the extant concrete piers at a site somewhere in TX.

Future next gen S2000 owner > ttyymmnn 04/29/2020 at 12:53

0

Is asphalt not capable of handling the heavier loads of more modern aircraft upon landing?

ttyymmnn > Future next gen S2000 owner 04/29/2020 at 12:56

1

Too soft. And I think it gets softer in the heat of the day. That’s why city bus parking pads at stops are made out of concrete.  But I’m no road engineer.

Future next gen S2000 owner > ttyymmnn 04/29/2020 at 13:04

0

I’m going to show a little UP pride. The largest wooden dome, the Superior Dome, is located in the upper peninsula of Michigan. 14 stories tall with a span of 536'.

It opened in 91'. I played hs sports in a about half a dozen times and it still hosts NMU football games, hs games as well as collegiate and hs track events. Plus a bunch of other stuff.

Apparently my uncle carved his name into one of the beams when they were building it. He was/still is a carpenter. Story remains unconfirmed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_Dome

Insert large wood jokes here

ttyymmnn > Future next gen S2000 owner 04/29/2020 at 13:06

0

A pparently my uncle carved his name into one of the beams when they were building it. He was/still is a carpenter. Story remains unconfirmed.

That’s awesome. I can barely drive a nail straight. 

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > ttyymmnn 04/29/2020 at 13:49

0

There’s an old blimp hangar in Brandenburg Germany that’s been turned into a water park. The photos look pretty amazing. 

https://www.tourismontheedge.com/hidden-places/europe/german-airship-hangar-converted-into-giant-waterpark

RacinBob > ttyymmnn 04/29/2020 at 13:50

0

Really enjoyed the article. I believe another one of these hangers is on the drive between San Fran and San Jose. 

ttyymmnn > Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom 04/29/2020 at 13:51

0

Wow, that’s super cool. Great repurposing of the space.

ttyymmnn > RacinBob 04/29/2020 at 13:54

0

Thanks! I started with that top photo, and was going to make a quickie Good Morning post, but then the story got more and more interesting and it turned into a whole post.

I would be interested to find out how many blimp hangars the Navy built. Obviously, they would be along the coasts, and maybe the Great Lakes. The K-class blimps were built by Goodyear at their plant in Akron, another place famous for big blimp hangars.

Turbineguy: Nom de Zoom > ttyymmnn 04/29/2020 at 13:56

1

Just need a zipline and bungee jump to be complete. 

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 04/29/2020 at 13:59

0

Hopefully they added reflective coating on the outside at some point. 

ttyymmnn > Chariotoflove 04/29/2020 at 14:29

1

Being the military, they probably covered it with black tar.

Chariotoflove > ttyymmnn 04/29/2020 at 16:20

1

Whatever the contractor had that was cheapest.

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > Future next gen S2000 owner 04/29/2020 at 23:16

0

the snowload has to be nuts

jrpdx2 > ttyymmnn 04/30/2020 at 02:15

0

Tillamook Air Museum near Tillamook, Oregon has one. The former US Navy blimp hangar, called “Hangar B”, which is the largest clear-span wooden structure in the world. Unfortunately most of the planes in the museum moved elsewhere a while ago. It’s huge!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tillamook_Air_Museum

jrpdx2 > ttyymmnn 04/30/2020 at 02:26

1

Tillamook Air Museum near Tillamook, Oregon has one. The former US Navy blimp hangar, called “Hangar B”, which is the largest clear-span wooden structure in the world. Unfortunately most of the planes in the museum moved elsewhere a while ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tillamook_Air_Museum