Hangar One for kids
The Giant Airship Garage. The true story of Hangar One, near Mountain View, CA, told for kids.
Read along
Look out the window! See that gigantic curved building, like a huge metal tunnel lying on its side? That's Hangar One! It was built as a garage for giant flying balloons called airships.
One airship that lived here was named the USS Macon. The floor inside is so big that six football fields could fit on it, side by side! Imagine parking your car in there. You would need a map to find it again!
People still call this one of the biggest buildings in the world with nothing holding up its roof inside. Now look closely. Can you see how the walls curve like a giant's tunnel? Hold your arms up high and make a big curve, just like the hangar!
Quiz the back seat
What was Hangar One built to be a garage for?
Show the answer
Giant airships. Giant airships! Big flying balloons, parked indoors like toys in a toy box.
3 fun facts
- Hangar One covers 8 acres at Moffett Field.
- It was built in the 1930s as a naval airship hangar for USS Macon.
- Its floor can hold six football fields.
For grown-ups
Every Tumbly story is checked claim by claim against the sources below before it's published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.
Sources
Nearby stories
The Forgotten Moon Tapes
Here is a secret about the Moon. In 1966, little robot spaceships zoomed around it, taking pictures.
The Moon-Named Building
Look over toward Moffett Field! There's a building there named after a place on the Moon!
The Mystery Blue Cube
Psst! Have you ever seen a giant blue box with no windows?
The Marsh Where Birds Rest
Look out the window toward the bay! See that wide, flat, grassy land?All stories in Santa Clara County → · All places
Town and county names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).