Airplane Hangar (OT)

Charles

• My hangar construction page.

I used to live in Southern Minnesota. A guy that I worked with a Ballanca. He bought an old road grader and made a grass landing strip on his farm. A bunch of us guys from work helped him fabricate a bunch of arched beams from laminated sawmill lumber. We then erected the beams, put boards on to tie the beams together (purlins?), and put tin roof panels on the whole thing. He framed in one end solid and put swinging doors on the other end. He used the building as a hangar. He rented a t-hangar at Rochester airport in the winter so he could fly in and out during the winter months, and kept his plane at home during the summer. It was way cool.

Tom in TN

Email me for more info.

Charles

My dad (72 years old) built his about 5 years ago...or should I say..had it erected. It's a steel framed hangar...oh, just guessing..60x120. The shop area is about 16 feet deep and the width of the rear of the building. Above this is more or less an efficency apartment, with kitchen, bath and bedroom..used when his transient pals fly in. There is another john in the workshop. If it weren't for all the junk he has in there...jigs and fixtures and shelving and parts planes....I'd say you could sandwich 4 planes in there and be able to walk amongst them. He keeps his '46 J3 and Cessna 150 in there....has a '46 Taylorcraft in process of restoring and a couple 195 fusealages in there now. He has room for a blasting cabinet, big air compresor, his honda 4 wheeler, his 1946 Oliver RC 60 and of course...plenty of seating for the talkers.....which seems to be more of, than flyers. In fact those old codgers BS 98% of the time and fly 2% of the time! Hell of an investment for a loafing spot and so little active participation.....why I never let the flying bug bite me. About 12 years ago, I came within inches of buying a Cessna 195. I was also fond of the radial Wilga....but, those notions passed and my bank account was not deflated on what proved to be a passing fancy. If you're going to keep a plane, build a good hangar to keep it in.