Tustin Blimp Hangars, California

The Santa Ana Naval Air Station, located in Tustin, south of Los Angeles, was commissioned in 1942, as the southernmost of three blimp bases on the west coast. Each base had a pair of 1,000-foot-long wooden hangars built during WWII, housing squadrons of blimps. Tustin was decommissioned in 1949, then taken over by the Marine Corps, which used it as a helicopter training base, until it was closed in 1999. Most of the property has been conveyed to the City of Tustin, and private developers. Housing has already been built, and much of the property’s grounds have been graded. The fate of the blimp hangars themselves is still uncertain, and they are still owned by the Navy. It seems unclear if they are an asset or a liability. In 2013, the North Hangar was being used to build and test a massive airship prototype, being developed for the government by the Worldwide Aeros Corporation. In a windstorm, part of the roof fell in and destroyed the craft. The roof has been stabilized by erecting two towers with cables strung between them holding up the damaged part of the roof, for now. The south hangar at Tustin is proving more stable, and can be rented out for $9,000 a day, while its fate is being considered. Like many large buildings in limbo in southern California, the hangars have been used by the entertainment industry, for advertising and films, including Pearl Harbor, and for other events, including an X-Files convention.