Air Museum

Tillamook Air Museum is an aviation museum south of Tillamook, Oregon in the United States. The museum is located at a former U.S. Navy Air Station and housed in a former blimp hangar, known as "Hangar B", which is the largest clear-span wooden structure in the world. The six-blimp hangar was built by the United States Navy in 1942 during World War II for Naval Air Station Tillamook. It is 1,072 feet long and 296 feet wide, covering more than 7 acres. It stands 192 feet tall. Each door weighs 30 short tons and are 120 feet tall.  On display in the main hangar are more than 30 aircraft, from World War 1 to an F-14 Tomcat from the modern jet age. The planes have been donated by private collectors, purchased by the museum and put on permanent loan by the U.S. Navy. 

There were 2 wooden hangers built originally. 

Wood was used because steel and other metals were needed for 

 the war effort. The second hanger which has since burned down

was constructed in 27 days.

Models fly above the lobby

B-52 Stratofortress. It has a range of 8,800 miles, 

can fl up to 50,000 feet

Osiris is the Egyptian god of war

There was no information on this compartment below the cockpit

Nieuport 11, a french WW 1 fighter that was important in 

helping to the so-called Fokker Scourge

Kaman HTK-1 training helicopter

Soviet MiG-17

BAC Jet Provost

Jody trying out one of eight cockpit simulators

There are an array of military models

Mid 1900s TWA Convair 880 cabin. 

Seats were wide comfortable back then

I remember airline meals like this when I was a kid

The cavernous interior

The Mini-Guppy

Use to transport very large objects

Tilamook

The city is named for the Tillamook people, a Native American tribe speaking a Salishan language who lived in this area until the early 19th century.  Historically, the Tillamook economy has been based primarily on dairy farms. The farmland surrounding the city is used for grazing the milk cattle that supply the Tillamook County Creamery Association's production of cheese, particularly cheddar, gourmet ice cream and yogurt, and other dairy products.

We enjoy a great tour of the Garibaldi Guard Station

Coast Guard Station Tillamook Bay is an active duty installation of the United States Coast Guard located in Garibaldi, Oregon, as well as a nationally recognized historic site. A station has been operating in Tillamook Bay since 1908.  Duties include rough water rescues, maritime environmental protection, maritime law enforcement, boating safety and implementation of the commercial fishing vessel safety regulations. StationTillamook Bay averages more than 250 search and rescue cases a year. 

One of two 47 foot all aluminum boats

The boat can be driven from either an inclosed cabin or 

this open cockpit. We were told they always use the 

open cockpit, even in foul wether, because the wipers 

for the enclosed cockpit can not remove the spray fast enough. 

Photo courtesy of the Coast Guard

Fort Clatsop

When Lewis and Clark had reached the Pacific Ocean after 18 grueling months,  they wintered at Fort Clatsop before returning east to St. Louis in the spring of 1806. It took just over three weeks for the Expedition to build the fort, and it served as their camp from December 8, 1805 until their departure on March 23, 1806. 

Marianne and Donna 

Enlisted men's quarters

Lewis and Clark's quarters

Clark's desk. He spent the winter refining his maps.

Map compiled by Nicholas King including all the 

known geographical feature of the West in 1803.

In 1810, Clark completed a master map of the West. 

It is very similar to today's maps. The total distance

on Clark's map was only off by 40 miles when compared

to contemporary maps

Lewis' desk

Trade goods - tobacco twists, fish hooks, buttons and ribbon

More trade goods and the peace medal given to the chiefs 

How it might have been

John's Beachingcombing Museum

Deep, dark, and mysterious. Most people think that whatever falls into the ocean is lost forever, but not John Anderson. Born and raised in Forks, he spends a lot of time walking the beaches of the Olympic peninsula. When he was 22, he picked up the Holy Grail of beachcombing, a Japanese glass float – and from that moment, he was hooked.  What you see is 48 years of weekly collecting trips. He says doesn’t use a metal detector when he goes beach-combing, just his eyes. He takes whatever he can fit into his backpack. But there’s some treasures too large. The stuff that doesn’t fit in his backpack gets loaded up in his truck. The really big stuff, he flies it out with a helicopter. 

John's most prized possession is the one of a kind dumbbell 

shaped glass float in the lower right corner 

"Sea Beans" from the tropical forests of South America

Don checking it all out

John conversing with Don and Jane

The gangs all here.