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January 1943. "A blimp of the U.S. Navy is led onto the apron of an East Coast lighter-than-air station before taking off on a patrol flight over the Atlantic Ocean." 4x5 nitrate negative, Office of War Information. View full size.
In the late '50s, my dad was stationed at NAS Glynco, Brunswick, Georgia, which was a blimp base. I remember the huge wooden hangars. When the base finally closed, it morphed into the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, known better as FLETC. National Park Service, Border Patrol, and other LE-types train there now. A few years ago, my son, a Border Patrol agent, took a boat helming course there. Sure brought back some memories for me.
Looks like the USS Los Angeles (ZR-3).
Built for the dirigibles Shenandoah and Los Angeles. At 966 feet long, 350 feet wide and 224 feet high, with a floor area of 211,434 square feet, it could house them side by side.
It could shelter six of the K Type blimps shown in the picture.
When I was a lad we went there for the annual Armed Forces Day open house and rode to the top of the hangar in a hot air balloon.
Today it holds a full scale mockup of an aircraft carrier deck that is used for training.
This image shows the Hindenburg approaching during its first visit about a year before it would crash there:
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