Rain, Rain….

In my post about the Tillamook Cheese factory I alluded to the fact that weather in Tillamook, OR might be less than ideal. I mentioned that there are 55 completely sunny days per year. Yikes! In addition, with the help of Google, I discovered that between Oct and March, Tillamook receives far more rain each month than I experience in my area of Colorado in a year!

I visited the air museum in Tillamook. The museum is housed in the huge wooden blimp storage building erected during WWII to protect blimps that were used to escort Navy ships out to sea while scouting for submarines. The base was in operation from 1942 until 1948. This poem was posted in one of the displays. Apparently Rosenbaum and Tartas (the authors) were not thrilled with the assignment!

Oh, Little Town of Tillamook

(tune of Little Town of Bethlehem)

Oh, little town of Tillamook

How still you always look.

There's never anything to do,

I guess I'll read a book

Among thy big cows splendid,

The Tip Top and Tillahoe,

Where milk and beer is blended,

But it doesn't agree with me.

Oh, land of trees and ocean breeze,

And all kinds of smelly cheese,

Your lousy rain gives me a pain,

I'm sick and tired, oh Jeez!

On they dark street standeth

The everlasting dudes,

Of mice and rats and dogs and cats,

And marine and sailor feuds.

Oh what did I do to get me here,

I can't stand milk or beer.

If I don't leave here pretty soon,

I'll die of thirst, I fear.

And now this tune has ended,

I think I'll close the book,

But all our fears are that all our years,

Will be spent in Tillamook.

Rosenbaum & Tartas

1945

I can imagine, with all of that rain, life might have been a bit dreary!

Two hangars were constructed in 1942. To preserve steel for ship building, the hangars were constructed of wood. One hangar still stands. The hangars were 1,072 feet long (almost 3 football fields could be fit inside, end to end!), 296 feet wide and stand 192 feet tall. The hangar is the largest, clear-span wood structure in the world!

The motorhomes stored at one end of the hangar give a good feel for the size of the structure. Also, the letters painted on the hangar in 1994 are 100 feet in height and each line is 20 feet wide.

Source: katu.com

The letters are clearly visible in a satellite photo.

In addition to housing blimps during the war, and now housing an air museum and RV storage, the structure has been used in the past as a saw mill and a building for hay storage. (The 2nd hangar was destroyed in 1992 when hay being stored inside, caught fire from spontaneous combustion.)

The air museum has plans to move to Madras, OR, so the hangar can take on a new life. Care to lease a HUGE building?! Apparently the building needs a lot of maintenance. Mr. Dreamer was told that the roof needs work, but it can't take one more coat of paint as the paint itself would be too heavy for the roof to support!