Lakehurst Hangar 1

As members of the community in Ocean County, we provide plumbing services in Manchester township. We thought it would be nice to share this feature with our customers in town. It has some very interesting history that only a few people know about.

The Hangar No. 1 was the first vital facility that was built at Lakehurst to cottage the huge helium-filled dirigibles. It is an airship hangar situated at the Naval Air Engineering Station Lakehurst in Manchester Township, in Ocean County, New Jersey.

It was the planned destination of the rigid airship LZ 129 Hindenburg before May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg disaster when it burned while landing.

Created in 1921, it is one of the oldest surviving facilities associated with that period’s development of lighter-than-air flight. It was assigned a National Historic Landmark in 1968.

Description of Hangar No.1

The Hangar No. 1 was the first major installation assembled at Lakehurst to house the huge helium-filled dirigibles. Its completion was achieved in 1921 by the Lord Construction Company, with trusses set up by the Bethlehem Steel Company. 

The hangar is a 966 feet long, 350 feet wide & 224 feet high structure, having a floor space of 211,434 square feet (1.964 ha). 

The hangar was specifically designed for World War I, with counterbalanced doors identical to hangars built in Great Britain. Each door weighs about 1,350 tons & is powered by two 20-horsepower motors. 

Operations

From 1922 to 1923, the hangar was used to construct the USS Shenandoah (ZR-1). As of September 4th, 1923, the ship made a short maiden flight in the proximity of Lakehurst and was christened on October 10, 1923. The ZR-3 (USS Los Angeles) shared Hangar No. 1 with the USS Shenandoah. 

Hangar No. 1 is recognized for its role in training Navy fighters and dive-bombing pilots during World War II to battle in the Pacific theater.

Hangar No.1 today

Presently the hangar holds a mock aircraft carrier flight deck, used as a training facility for aircraft carrier flight deck personnel.

The East Coast Indoor Modelers Club and the Academy of Model Aeronautics have been given access to use the hangar since 1926 to fly indoor free flight model aircraft, these self-powered aircraft models benefit from the enormous wind-free open space of the hangar.

Since 1994, Ocean County Vocational-Technical School has operated its Career & Technical Institute in the hangar.

In addition to Hangar No. 1, there are 5 other airship hangars at Lakehurst, which are being used today for training, testing & storage.

You can find Hangar No. 1 next to many other points of interest:

Here’s the map for Lakehurst Hangar 1:

As you can see, Lakehurst Hangar 1 is about 25 minutes from our head office in Brick, New Jersey!