Tillamook Air Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Tillamook Air Museum

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Established	1994 (1994)
Location	Tillamook, Oregon
Type	Aviation museum

The Tillamook Air Museum is a cool place in Tillamook, Oregon, where you can see amazing airplanes. It's built inside a giant old blimp hangar called "Hangar B." This hangar is super special because it's the biggest wooden building in the world that doesn't have any support poles inside! It used to be a base for the United States Navy.

History of the Museum and Hangar

The huge Hangar B was built by the United States Navy in 1942. This was during World War II, and it was used for Naval Air Station Tillamook. The hangar was big enough to hold six blimps at once!

Hangar B is really massive. It's 1,072 feet (327 meters) long and 296 feet (90 meters) wide. This means it covers more than 7 acres (2.8 hectares) of land. The building stands 192 feet (59 meters) tall. Each of its doors is 120 feet (37 meters) tall and weighs 30 short tons (27 metric tons)!

Hangar B had a twin building, Hangar A. Sadly, Hangar A was destroyed by a fire on August 22, 1992.

Between 2013 and 2014, some of the museum's aircraft collection moved. These planes, owned by Jack Erickson, went from Tillamook to Madras, Oregon.

In November 2014, the owners of Hangar B, the Port of Tillamook Bay, decided to keep the Tillamook Air Museum open. They continued to operate it with the planes that remained.

In 2016, the Classic Aircraft Aviation Museum brought some of its aircraft to the museum. This added more cool planes for visitors to see.

In 2021, the museum got a special loan. They received the cockpit of a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, which is a very famous large bomber plane.

What You Can See at the Museum

Aero Spacelines Mini Guppy

The huge Hangar B from the outside

Inside the Tillamook Air Museum

Aircraft on Display

The museum has many different types of aircraft. You can see planes and helicopters from various eras. Here are some of the aircraft you might find there:

Other Exhibits

Besides the aircraft, the museum has an exhibit hall. This hall shows a large collection of rare items from history. Many of these are related to wartime and aviation.

You can see pieces from the famous German airship, the LZ-129 Hindenburg. There is also a World War II German air force (Luftwaffe) flight jacket. Another cool item is a World War II Japanese Army Winter flight suit.

The museum also has an interactive exhibit. You can walk through an Anderson Air Raid Shelter. These shelters were used to protect people during air raids in wartime. There is also an exhibit about a Curtiss SB2C Helldiver plane crash.

See also

• Evergreen Aviation Museum, in McMinnville, Oregon
• Hangar One (Mountain View, California)
• List of aerospace museums
• Marine Corps Air Station Tustin
• Moffett Federal Airfield
• Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum in Hood River, Oregon