Lakehurst Hangar No. 1

In 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. 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). ==Operations==

The hangar was used to construct the USS Shenandoah (ZR-1) from 1922 to 1923. The East Coast Indoor Modelers club, a chartered club within the auspices of the United States' official aeromodeling organization, the Academy of Model Aeronautics, has been allowed to use the hangar since 1926 to fly indoor free flight model aircraft. These self-powered aircraft models benefit from the large wind-free open space of the hangar. Since 1994, Ocean County Vocational Technical School has operated its Career & Technical Institute in the hangar, the institute offers adult tech programs in aviation and electronic technologies. In addition to Hangar No. 1, there are five other airship hangars at Lakehurst, which today are used for training, testing and storage. File:LZ 129 Hindenburg with RD-4 over Lakehurst May 1936.jpg | Arrival of Hindenburg at Lakehurst on May 9, 1936, with Hangar No. 1 in the center and USS Los Angeles (ZR-3) moored in the background File:NAS Lakehurst NAN5-48.jpg|Hangar No. 1 on the Naval Air Station Lakehurst, about 1946/47 ==See also==