HOW MANY SOCCER FIELDS COULD HAVE BEEN PUT INTHERE? 
Hey Doc. Your question has been asked before, but not here. There’s another article out there somewhere that I haven’t located, or maybe it’s no longer out there. These hangars were allegedly built in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor, using methods that were available / common back then. The latticework (probably not the right word) of huge wooden beams forming the graceful curve of the roof is phenomenal. Although as that framework was being built, the beams were coated in something to prevent insects and rot. Whatever they used to coat the beams is what you and I would call “nasty stuff”. No one in a position of authority wants to approve of having children, typical soccer players, anywhere near the stuff, especially inside a building that’s been baking in the hot Southern California sun for so many years.
There are people who have said they either have, or could develop, a coating that would make the wooden beams safe (Klass Kote LOL?). And in a traditional hanger with flat walls or even corrugated steel it would work. But when said people see the puzzle of beams forming a 178-foot high curve, every single piece of which would need to be coated on every side, they shake their heads and decline to participate. There was a time when there were still people motivated to solve the problem. But after watching all the experts shake their heads and decline, the motivation eventually waned.
Today, I’m sure it could be done. Take an autonomous robot from Sony or Honda, tape a 3D scanner to the top of it’s head to track it’s progress, and stick a paint roller in it’s mouth. Then temporarily connect it to a “blank” AI and give it one goal: Three coats on every wooden surface please. Then close the 60-ton doors and leave it alone with the vapors until the job is done.
We locals used to be able to get inside and fly every now and then. I think someone knew a guy (the caretaker maybe?). If someone like Honda was shooting a car commercial (and paying $$$) we were postponed. And then a small section of roof fell in. We learned that there had been a pigeon coop on the roof for many years. Carrier pigeons? Homing pigeons? Why on earth would anyone want to put a pigeon coop 178 feet up, and have to navigate the stairs, ladders and catwalks to get to it? Well during the construction and installation of the coop, someone paid no attention to drainage or the possibility of having to clean up/out the pigeon poop. After years and years the excrement damaged the roof and some beams. And when a section fell in, that was the absolute end of civilians getting inside without a much better reason that toy airplanes.
Paul
Topic: Only a little bit CL but… (Tustin Blimp Hangar fire) (Read 1863 times)