The Adair County news., 1921-07-26
BUILD WORLDS
BIGGEST HANGAR
Navy Air Terminal Will Hou>e
Two Giant U. S. DirigibIes
Now Building.
MANY WONDERFUL FEATURES
Monster Doors Are Opened and Closed
by an Electric Motor-Structure
, Would Cover Three Ordinary
City Blocks.

New YOrk.-America'S first great
terminal for giant aircraft is nearing
completion at Lakehurst, n. ].
The structure, the largest of its kind
on earth, is S03 feet long, 264 feet
wide and 195 feet high. Some idea of
its immense size may be Cleaned
from the fact that if set down in a
city the hangar would occupy three
solid blocks. Its doors at each end
stand more than 175 feet high and are
264 feet wide. A 16-story skyscraper
could be pushed through the space
disclosed by the doors when they are
opened.
The hangar is officially known as
the United States navy airship hangar,
and represents the latest word in con-
struction for buildings of this type.
1t is planned to have it ready in the
early summer to house the two giant
dirigibles now under construction. the
Fri, building at League island navy
yard, Philadelphia, and the ZR-2, near
ing completion in England. The trans
Atlantic flight of the latter is sched
uled for late in July or early in Au-
gust, and the Navy department plans
to have the hangar completed for
service before the airships are ready
to sail.
Giant Mooring Mast a Feature.
Incidental to the hangar is a gigan-
tic mOoring mast to which great
dirigibles may be tied when it is i'm
practicable to house them inside the
hangar. The mast is so constructed
that the giants of the air will be
moored, bow on, and will swing in
the direction of the wind, thus avoid
ing the dangerous force exerted by
high winds.
The result of experiments with the
LakehurSt mooring mast will deter
mine the policy of the Navy depart
ment in erecting similar mooring
masts at various air stations through
out the country, such as Chicago, st.
Louis, Kansas City, Denver, San Fran
cisco, Seattle, New Orleans. Atlanta.
Columbus, O., and San Diego.
The new airships nearing compile
tion are of such large proportions.
each being 700 feet long and s. feet
in diameter. as large as many of the
great ocean liners. that the manner of
docking them presented serious
problems in engineering, but it is be-
lieved that the Lakehurst hangar will
go far toward solving many of these
problems.
Door Leaf Weighs 800 Tons.
First in Importance came the ques-
tiOn of doors to the hangar. Each leaf
of the two doors, there being two
leaves to a door, is made up of 800
tons of steel and corrugated asbestos.
These leaves are supported on con-
crete trucks which in turn rest on
wheels the size of those on a freight
car. The leaves are rolled apart by
a 25-hOrsepOwer electric motor. II
man-pOwer were needed to open the
doors, it is estimated that 800 men
would be called on.
Naval experts calculate that the
giant doors can be rolled wide open
within 13 minutes and the entire proc
ess of housing one of the dirigibles
will consume approximately 40 min
uteS.
Running lengthwise through the
hangar is railroad and three trolley
slots technically described as docking
rails. The dirigible about to enter the
hangar will be cable-fastened TO these
rails. which extend on 1,5O0-foot rum
way at either end, and guided to its
berth.
Under the roof among a network of
steel rafters. five mOnOrail cranes sup
port movable platforms which enable
workmen to repair an aircraft after it
has dOcked. These rafterS are so far
"abOve the floor of the hangar that the
wOrkmen resolve themselves into mere
specks.
So large are the glass windows in
the sides and the roof that individual
motors are necessary to open each
window.