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All the United States California Tustin Tustin Blimp Hangar #2
Tustin Blimp Hangar #2 is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Tustin Blimp Hangar #2

This enormous World War II relic is one of the largest wooden structures in the world.

Tustin, California

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snoozbug
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Tustin Blimp Hangar.   Russ Allison Loar/cc by-sa 4.0
Tustin Blimp Hangar.   Russ Allison Loar/cc by-sa 4.0
LTA hangar at Marine Corps Air Station Tustin, 1983.   Photo courtesy Orange County Archives/cc by 2.0
Tustin Blimp Hangar No. 2.   Lordkinbote/cc by-sa 2.0
The old blimp hangar and new tract homes, 2015.   Joe Wolf/cc by-nd 2.0
An inside view of several airships inside one of the massive blimp hangars.   USMCAS Tustin archives/public domain
Hangar No. 1 under construction in 1942.   US Navy/public domain
A U.S. Navy blimp in front of one the massive blimp hangars in Tustin.   US Navy/public domain
Massive hangar late at night   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
North hangar circa 2013   Avoiding Regret (Used with permission)
Interior ceiling, circa 2013   Avoiding Regret (Used with permission)
South hangar circa 2013   Avoiding Regret (Used with permission)
Hangar ca. New Year’s Eve 2022   blimpcaptain / Atlas Obscura User
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About

This mammoth blimp hangar was one of two built in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor to house the manned airships that patrolled the coast of California looking for enemy submarines. At 17 stories high and over 1,000 feet long, it  towers over the houses in the Orange County town of Tustin, and is still among the largest freestanding wooden structures on the planet.

The Tustin military base was built in 1942 to keep and maintain the lighter-than-air (LTA) airships operated by the U.S. Navy. The giant hangars were made almost entirely of wood as steel was in short supply due to the war effort. Each hangar covers about 7 acres of enclosed space, enough to house six lightweight helium blimps each about 250 feet long. The sheer scale of the structures would earn them recognition as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, not to mention some impressive film and TV cameos.

After the airship program was shut down in 1949, the obsolete blimp hangars were used for Marine helicopter training with the outset of the Korean War. The base, then known as the Marine Corps Air Station Tustin (and nicknamed "Hangar City") operated until 1999 when it shut down for good.

In November 2023 the north hangar (Hangar #1) was destroyed by fire. The south hangar still stands today, though the future of this historic relics of airship warfare is uncertain. 

Related Tags

War History Airships Blimps Infrastructure Marine Naval History World War Ii Military

Know Before You Go

Take the Jamboree exit off Interstate 5 at Tustin, California. The former Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) is now a planned community called Tustin Legacy, adjacent to The District shopping center. The South Hangar is visible from the street, while the North Hangar burned down in November 2023.

Community Contributors

Added By

snoozbug

Edited By

Avoiding Regret, Craig Baker, Cusac, bill 15aba2a4...

  • Avoiding Regret
  • Craig Baker
  • Cusac
  • bill 15aba2a4
  • alebrun
  • Meg
  • blimpcaptain

Published

October 11, 2018

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Sources
  • https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=190132
  • https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-11-07/massive-fire-burns-landmark-17-story-blimp-hangar-in-tustin
  • http://www.militarymuseum.org/NAS-Santa-Ana-History.pdf
  • http://www.tustinhistory.com/photos-lta.htm
  • http://www.airfields-freeman.com/CA/Airfields_CA_OrangeCo_SE.htm#tustin
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Corps_Air_Station_Tustin
  • http://www.tustinca.org/depts/ed/legacy/legacy/hangars.asp
  • Blimps are not derigibles. The US Navy experimented with derigibles (airships supported by an internal framework, or "rigid" airships) as flying "hangars" for small airplanes in the 1930's, but after losing one in a storm decided they were impractical for military use.
Tustin Blimp Hangar #2
2525 E Warner Ave
Tustin, California
United States
33.703001, -117.823992
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