Akron, Ohio: Goodyear Airship Hangar

While this building is rarely open to the public, the Goodyear Blimp Hangar in Suffield opens for a few weekends near Christmas for people to drive through with donation for Toys for Tots. And it is in active use as a base for one of the blimps. There is a viewing area with parking to watch the blimps depart and land, and the view from across the lake from Wingfoot Lake State Park (no admission fee) can be worth the effort.

The Goodyear Airdock housed a number of airships, including the USS Akron and USS Macon. The structure is 8 football fields long.

We were visiting Akron and decided to try to find the hangar where the blimps were actually made years ago - I remember being taken there as a kid and standing inside. A memory I will never forget! I took pictures from the road last September.

When I was stationed in Akron as a US Air Force recruiter, I got to know a gentleman who worked at Loral Aerospace (now Lockheed Martin) and he was kind enough to take me into the airdock on several occasions. The southern end of the airdock has been closed off for decades by a large building (Goodyear built a handful of Corsair fighters in that building towards the end of WWII). The airdock itself is of course closed to the public; it is now used as a huge storage space. Unknown to most though, is that on the east side of the airdock is the original Goodyear 1910 airdock, which is perhaps 1/100th the size of the later one.

One last note: for some years in the late '80s and early '90s, the full-sized shuttlecraft prop from the original Star Trek series was stored there while it was restored.

A huge structure .... Just imagine how big the blimps used to be that were built inside. As large as a Floating City! In the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest building without interior supports, the Goodyear Airdock -- where Goodyear once built blimps --- is 22 stories high and could accommodate four Super Bowl Games at once! Because of the unique design and construction, height and atmosphere actually produce rain and clouds inside the building!