From #OCRegister:
The fire is in one of two hangars that once housed blimps used in World War II and later provided cover for military helicopters.
The historic hangars have been featured in television and films, including ”JAG, ” ”The X Files,” ”Austin Powers,” ”Pearl Harbor ” and ”Star Trek.”
https://www.ocregister.com/2023/11/07/former-tustin-air-base-hangars-on-fire/
This scene in the 2009 #StarTrek movie, where the two Spocks meet, was filmed in the Tustin blimp hangar.
There's no comparison in terms of historical significance, but for the OC this is our Notre Dame fire.
The Tustin "Lighter Than Air" (LTA) hangars were built in 1942, originally for blimps to hunt Japanese submarines off the Southern California coast.
They were converted for use with Marine Corps helicopters. My wife's father worked there.
When the base closed in the 1990s, Tustin scrambled to find practical uses for them. One was converted to a film stage. The other was in too poor a condition.
In the fourth photo, I believe it's the rear hangar that burned today, not the film stage.
Video of today's Tustin historic blimp/helicopter hangar fire from Fox Live Now.
Video from KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles reporting on today's Tustin blimp hangar fire.
KABC-TV Channel 7 Los Angeles video during the night of the Tustin hangar fire.
This is amateur video of the Tustin hangar fire from about two hours ago. It's almost all gone now.
This KCAL-TV Channel 9 video is on the history of the Tustin blimp hangars.
From #OCRegister ... And my heart breaks again. The Tustin north hangar is pretty much gone now.
@WordsmithFL a similar thing happened to one of the two blimp hangars in Tillamook, Oregon. The remaining hangar is an air museum, I think. They're really massive. At one time one was used for a sawmill operation, I believe.
@joycereynoldsward The two OC Marine Corps bases, Tustin and El Toro, have a shared history with Patrick AFB and Cape Canaveral AFS here in the #SpaceCoast.
Both Tustin and Patrick began during WW2 as submarine hunters. Patrick never had blimps, just seaplanes.
The early El Toro and Cape hangars used the same blueprints. When I moved here in 2009, I thought, "Those hangars look familiar." It turned out they were based on El Toro hangars.
@WordsmithFL the pix I've seen looks very similar to the Tillamook hangars.
@WordsmithFL here's an article about the Tillamook blimp hangars:
https://www.nps.gov/articles/us-naval-air-station-dirigible-hangar-b.htm
@joycereynoldsward Thank you for sharing. From the article:
"All, including the Lighter-than-Airship Hangars in Tustin, California, were built using the same plans and construction began during the early years of World War II."
They do look identical. I wonder if they were the same size.
It's interesting that the Pacific Coast went with dirigibles but Florida went with seaplanes to chase enemy submarines. Both were naval air stations at the time.
@WordsmithFL I wonder if weather conditions were a factor?
As far as size is concerned...those Tillamook hangars are HUGE.
@joycereynoldsward From Wiki:
Tillamook "1,072 feet (327 m) long and 296 feet (90 m) wide"
Tustin "1,072 feet (327 m) long by 292 feet (89 m) wide by 192 feet"
Sounds like they're identical.
@joycereynoldsward A dirigible could remain stationary, while a seaplane did not (obviously).
It may have been the Atlantic theater was more active, with U-boats prowling off the Cape to intercept military and commercial convoys. On the Pacific Coast, we didn't have convoys trying to run shipments like we were to Europe. I doubt there was much Japanese sub activity off CA/OR, although there were a few. They didn't pose the same threat.
@WordsmithFL nah, we just had incendiary balloons and kamikazes. Stationary might work better with spotting incendiary balloons.
Might also speak to a difference in the roughness of the ocean.
@joycereynoldsward A Japanese submarine shelled an oil refinery near Santa Barbara in February 1943, but that's about it so far as I know.
@joycereynoldsward This Wiki page about the Santa Barbara attack also indicates the Japanese submarine presence off the Pacific Coast was somewhat minimal.
From the OCFA PIO:
"Due to the dynamic nature of the fire, and the imminent danger of collapse, we have determined the most operationally sound method is to allow the structure to collapse, at which point ground crews can move in closer, and aggressively work to extinguish the fire."