Lakehurst Hangar No. 1

Hangar No. 1 is an airship hangar located at Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst in Manchester Township, in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the intended destination of the rigid airship LZ 129 Hindenburg prior to the Hindenburg disaster on May 6, 1937, when it crashed and burned while landing.DescriptionIn 1921 the US Navy established Lakehurst Naval Air Station to serve as its headquarters for lighter-than-air flight. The new base became the center for experimentation and development of rigid airships for strategic and commercial purposes as well as the control station for all Naval lighter-than-air flights. Hangar No. 1 was the first major facility built at Lakehurst to house the huge helium-filled dirigibles.The hangar was completed in 1921 by the Lord Construction Company, with trusses erected by the Bethlehem Steel Company. The hangar is long, wide and high, with a floor area of 211434sqft. The hangar is typical of airship hangar designs of World War I, utilizing counterbalanced doors similar to hangars built in Great Britain. At each end are two pairs of massive steel doors, mounted on railroad tracks. These double doors are structurally separate from the hangar itself. Each counterbalanced door weighs 1,350 tons and is powered by two, 20 horsepower motors, although provisions were made to open the doors manually, which required the assembled manpower of nine men. Service mezzanines are located on each side of the hangar. The hangar also had a system of railroad tracks that led to the mooring areas outside the hangar. The hangar was large enough to house two rigid airships as well as additional non-rigid airships (blimps).