One of the major reasons for our recent trip out to the Oregon Coast was to visit the Tillamook Air Museum, which located just south of Tillamook, Oregon at the Tillamook Airport.
Described as “one of the country’s top private World War II aircraft collections”, the museum is a former military blimp hangar, and is the largest clear-span wooden structure in the world.
It’s massive!
Built by the US Navy in 1942 during World War II the building stands 192 feet tall, is 1,072 feet long and 296 feet wide, and has a total area of over 6 acres. The hangar doors are 120 feet tall.
Also known as Hangar “B”, the hangar is the only one of two remaining, as Hangar “A” was destroyed by a fire in 1992.
We were fortunate to visit on a day when the Liberty Belle, a B-17 recently restored at a cost of 3 million US dollars, was on display and available for inside viewing by donation.
Other exhibits at the museum include:
- 1938 Bellanca Air Cruiser
- P-38 Lightning
- PBY-5A Catalina
- F4U-7 Corsair
- TBM Avenger
- SBD Dauntless
- L-29 Delphin
- A-26 Douglas Invader
- J2F-6 Duck
- PV-2 Harpoon
- AM-1 Martin Mauler
- Bf-109 Messerschmitt
- P-51 Mustang
- P2V-7 Neptune
- C-47 Skytrain
- AD-4W Skyraider
- ERCO ERCOUPE 415-C
- PT-17 Stearman
- Boeing 377 Stratocruiser (Mini-Guppy)
- T-6 Texan
- FM-2 Wildcat
- F-14A Tomcat
- A-7 Corsair II
- A-4B Skyhawk
- Fairchild GK-1
- Kaman HTK -1 Helicopter
- Nord 1101
- Bell Helicopter
- Cessna 180
- Chris-Teena Mini-Coupe
- Alien Blimp
- Quickie homebuilt
- Ki-43 Oscar
- Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig 17/Lim-6
We also paid the additional $3 entrance fee to see inside the Mini-Guppy.
Also noteable at this location is the free Wi-Fi available at the Air Base Cafe. The coffee is pretty darned good too.
Hi, Ros:
I’ve been a big fan of yours for many years and was tickled to see this post about your visit to Tillamook. They have one of the few surviving (and still airworthy) P-38 Lightnings left in the world. Although it is not currently flying, they tell us that there are plans for the future to get “Tangerine” back in the air. With only a handful of P-38s available for the public to see actually flying, the possibility of another one coming back on line is thrilling.
If you’re interested in seeing the other airworthy P-38s, have a look at the list and photos here: http://p38assn.org/surviving.htm
Thanks for the mention of Tillamook and classic WWII aircraft!
Blue skies,
Kelly
PS — What a hoot. The captcha below is “adolf” — how appropriate, since we whipped his tail with our P-38s and other WWII fighters. Ha!
Hi Kelly,
Thanks for stopping by! You make a great point about the airworthiness aspect… I forgot to mention that in the post — that the planes on exhibit at Tillamook are actually all airworthy.
Your P-38 National Association and Museum site is great and I’m glad to see you monetizing for a higher purpose … guess that’s YOUR hand as the Director, Internet Operations & Merchandising.
Blue skies indeed and keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Ros
Hi Rosalind,
Yes , my wife and I and our two daughters used to drive through there yearly, on our quest to see big surf and listen too it to.
Pack up our van and head south from Vancouver B.C., for a two week separation from the Big City, met some really nice people along the way, camping all along the coastal; campgrounds, pretty awesome sounds and sites.
Keep up the good work.
Warmly, Pat Walker
P.S. Boy those are tough to read human words underneath, maybe also and pennon