Comments on “US Navy spares Silicon Valley's 'Alexandria Lighthouse'” • The Register

Comments on: US Navy spares Silicon Valley's 'Alexandria Lighthouse'

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Pictures of the Blimp Hangar #

By David Renaud Posted Friday 1st August 2008 02:30 GMT

In case anyone is curious, here are some images of this very big thing.

http://drenaud.com/blimp

These were taken in August, 2001 during an air show.

And we have two too... #

By vic denwood Posted Friday 1st August 2008 07:48 GMT

Don't forget we still have the airship hangars at Cardington just south of Bedford that housed the R100 and R101

If its poisoning the wetlands #

By pctechxp Posted Friday 1st August 2008 08:27 GMT

why would you want to save as it will eventually enter the watercourses, kind of like saying "lets leave the concrete off Chernobyl reactor 4

Dumb Yanks

Every blimp that set sail from this place crashed and burned #

By Gordon Pryra Posted Friday 1st August 2008 09:05 GMT

So I'm suprised the tanks want a monument to failiure, especially one thats toxic

They should let Google use that as well! #

By Stephen Usher Posted Friday 1st August 2008 09:42 GMT

They should re-clad it in non-toxic materials and hire it out to Google as a data centre! It's got great convective free-air cooling potential!

Two things... #

By Anonymous Coward Posted Friday 1st August 2008 10:34 GMT

pctechxp and Gordon Pryra

A quote from the article "the Navy said it will leave the hangar's steel skeleton in place while removing its toxic siding."

Did you even read it or did you just go into gut reaction anti-American mode?

Finally, Gordon, 2 blimps set sail from here and were lost (so yes, that's all of them). Unlike Britain, where the R101 crashed and burned on its maiden voyage killing 46 people and the R100 was sold for scrap for £600. Another triumph for Britain!

Rigid Airships #

By Dave Walker Posted Friday 1st August 2008 12:50 GMT

The airship Macon for which hanger was designed, as were the R100 and R00, were of the rigid variety, one might even say "Zeppelins" if that is politically correct.

Blimps are soft bodied dirigibles; the hanger could hold both the Macon and a handful of blimps simultaneously.

Paris because....

@David renaud.. #

By Tawakalna Posted Saturday 2nd August 2008 10:18 GMT

nice pictures! got any more?

Fill it with new blimps #

By George Posted Sunday 3rd August 2008 17:04 GMT

Isn't it about time that we started using blimps for <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/11/skyhook_jhl_40_boeing/">heavy lift operations</a> again? Since they have their own buoyancy, fuel consumption is greatly reduced. And current fuel prices are killing the American Airline industry.

Re: a previous comment:

<i>Every blimp that set sail from this place crashed and burned

By Gordon Pryra</i>

That's just ignorant. Not only was the Macon a Helium filled zeppelin (and it didn't burn) but there were many other lighter than air ships that operated out of Moffat Field. Just look at <a href="http://www.moffettfieldmuseum.org/history.html">ZP-32 during WW2</a>, which operated about 20 different blimps on anti-submarine patrol of the West Coast.