# The Abandoned Megastructure Saved by a Tech Giant ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant.webp]] **Creator:** The B1M · **Published:** 2026-05-27 · **Length:** 18:33 · [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tmte0qRKF1A) > Caption source: YouTube English (United Kingdom) manual captions via yt-dlp (`en-GB` json3). Extra figures and spellings (Akron Airdock **1,175 × 325 × 211 ft**; **7,000 tonnes** of steel; **600-tonne** orange-peel doors; PCB forensics) cross-checked with The B1M's companion article, [The Secret Plan to Save a Toxic Megastructure](https://theb1m.com/video/the-secret-plan-to-save-a-toxic-megastructure). YouTube chapters used for section headings; they line up with the captions. Screenshots from the 720p stream (format 136). Host **Fred Mills**. Contains paid promotion for Rayon Design. Additional footage and images credited to ABC, NASA, LTA Research, Google, University of Manitoba, KRON4 and others (see description). ## Outline ### 0:00 Intro - **0:00** A mock-1930s newsreel voiceover shows a huge airship over San Francisco — then Fred cuts in: the skyline is modern; the craft is a **new airship flying over the US West Coast in 2025**. ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0005.webp]] ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0022.webp]] - **0:34** When zeppelins dominated long-distance travel and heavy lift, the hangars that built and housed them had to be even larger. The airship era "went down in flames, literally," but the megastructures survived — and one hangar's purpose has been kept secret. ### 1:20 Mysterious Structures - **1:20** Odd shapes along Silicon Valley's **Route 101**, in suburban **Akron, Ohio**, about **50 miles from London**, and just outside **Berlin** — all former airship construction and storage halls. Why are they still standing? ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0080.webp]] ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0100.webp]] ### 2:30 Akron Airdock - **2:00** **Barry Prentice** (University of Manitoba; long-time airship advocate): airships have increasing economies of size — "no incubator, no egg gets hatched. You have to have a hangar in order to build an airship." - **2:34** Work began on the **Akron Airdock** in **1929** for the **Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation**. It became the largest building in the world without interior supports — sized for the **USS Akron** and **USS Macon**, the largest helium-filled airships ever built, used by the **US Navy** for long-distance scouting. ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0160.webp]] ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0175.webp]] ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0200.webp]] - **3:21** Scale: the ships were **784 ft** nose to tail — more than three times an **Airbus A380**. The Airdock itself is **1,175 ft** long, **325 ft** wide (room for **130 tennis courts**, or a skyscraper on its side) and **211 ft** high — cavernous enough that clouds could form inside when temperature and humidity aligned. ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0220.webp]] ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0250.webp]] - **4:11** Sponsor segment: Fred sketches a whimsical modern passenger airship ("Air Force Fred" / "B1M Air") in **Rayon Design** — web CAD, 50,000+ CAD blocks, AI custom Art Deco blocks including a vintage drinks cabinet. ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0280.webp]] ### 5:40 Rapid Construction - **5:41** More than **7,000 tonnes** of steel in a prefabricated, repeatable truss shell — erected in just **11 months**. Semi-parabolic frame, corrugated sheet metal, then asphalt and a rubber skin. - **6:14** Signature **"orange peel" doors**: **600 tonnes each**, on wheeled tracks, driven by dedicated power plants that open or close them in about **five minutes**. ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0320.webp]] ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0355.webp]] ### 6:47 Cardington Sheds - **6:47** The UK's **Cardington Sheds** (built **1915**, WWI) had simpler sideways-sliding doors that created turbulence and buffeted airships on exit. Prentice: Akron's orange-peel doors nest together as they open, which is far kinder to a huge rigid airship. ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0410.webp]] ### 7:45 Hangar One - **7:45** **Hangar One** at naval air station **Moffett Field** (California) became the West Coast base for the **Macon** and Pacific missions. Similar overall dimensions to Akron, but a cross-braced steel **skeleton** (not arches), a more aerodynamic rounded shape for the windy San Francisco Bay coast, and — fatefully — **lead-based paint** on the exterior. ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0465.webp]] ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0500.webp]] ### 8:41 End of an Era - **9:04** The **1937 Hindenburg** disaster (largest aircraft in history destroyed by fire in under a minute), plus the rise of jets, killed passenger airships. Earlier: **USS Akron** crashed in a storm off New Jersey in **1933** (**73** dead); **USS Macon** went down in bad weather in **1935** (most of the crew survived; two died). ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0530.webp]] ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0555.webp]] ### 9:45 New Uses - **9:59** Akron Airdock kept building smaller, safer non-rigid Navy blimps through and after WWII — Prentice says convoy escorts with airship cover never suffered submarine attacks; **~300+** Navy blimps, last flights around **1962**. Since the 1960s: R&D, aerospace, offices, movie sets. - **10:44** Cardington Sheds → **Cardington Studios**: Batman films, Dick Van Dyke musicals, a Rebel base in **Star Wars** (twice). Germany's former **CargoLifter** hangar is now the world's biggest indoor water park. ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0600.webp]] ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0650.webp]] ### 11:07 Toxic Troubles - **11:07** Hangar One's path was rougher. After Hindenburg, Moffett hosted **Ames Research Center** (**1939**) under **NACA**, later **NASA**. **Hangars Two and Three** (1940s) were partly wooden because steel was scarce. By the 1990s Hangar One was on the **National Register of Historic Places** after NASA acquired Moffett from the Navy (already a Naval Historic Monument). ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0680.webp]] - **12:06** In **2003**, toxins near the airfield were traced to the hangar skin. **Lenny Siegel** (co-founder, **Save Hangar One Committee**): principal contaminants were **PCBs** (polychlorinated biphenyls); NASA forensics linked wetland PCBs to Hangar One. The 1930s skin/roof incorporated **lead, asbestos and PCBs** — "perhaps one of the first known uses of PCBs." ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0720.webp]] - **12:51** Roof, sides, doors and windows were stripped piece by piece. Some wood was reused in corporate areas of **Levi's Stadium** (San Francisco 49ers). For years the bare steel frame sat exposed; demolition fears persisted despite historic protections, and no restoration plan had a backer. ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0760.webp]] ### 13:28 Saving Hangar One - **13:28** In **2014** a tech firm leased the airfield from NASA for **60 years**. Siegel: ~**1,000 acres** at Moffett; a lease condition was that the lessee recover Hangar One. Of two bidders, only **Google** — via **Planetary Ventures** — had the resources. ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0820.webp]] - **14:02** Full revamp funding mostly from Planetary Ventures; work began **2022** (scaffolding towers for a careful multi-year job). By **2025** the hangar was a complete building again: cleaned structure plus new doors, sidings, windows, roof and cladding. Siegel notes it took longer than the original build — modern worker-protection rules vs 1930s practice. ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0870.webp]] ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0900.webp]] - **14:52** Official purpose still vague. NASA's press release: Planetary Ventures would use Hangar One for R&D, assembly and testing in **space exploration, aviation, robotics and other emerging technologies**. A company director, asked to elaborate: "We're still working on it. But we're committed to innovation." ### 15:26 LTA Research - **15:30** News clips of a large craft over the Bay Area: not a blimp but an airship — **Pathfinder 1** from Sunnyvale-based **LTA Research** ("Lighter Than Air"), the largest aircraft built since the 1930s, **over 400 ft** long and **fully electric** (vs internal combustion of the originals). ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0940.webp]] - **16:10** LTA bought the **Akron Airdock** in **2022**, also operates at Moffett as a tenant, and is funded by **Sergey Brin** (Google co-founder with Larry Page). It has been using **Hangar Two** (not Hangar One, at least publicly) to build and store Pathfinder 1 — still a prototype, but already flying and aimed at scaling up. ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t0980.webp]] ### 17:10 The Airship Revival - **16:42** Prentice's theory for Hangar One's secret: it goes back to airships — you need a very large hangar for a very large airship, and these structures can last another hundred years. ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t1030.webp]] - **17:26** LTA is not alone in pursuing a comeback. Prentice expects cargo first: huge loads, ocean crossings at low cost; passenger airships vs jets are less certain, but "you never know." ![[images/The-Abandoned-Megastructure-Saved-by-a-Tech-Giant-t1060.webp]] - **18:07** Sponsor wrap for Rayon Design and a subscribe call. ## Things mentioned ### Hangars and megastructures - Akron Airdock (Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation; work begun 1929; 1,175 × 325 × 211 ft; 7,000+ tonnes steel; 11-month build; 600-tonne orange-peel doors) - Hangar One, Moffett Field, California (West Coast base for USS Macon; cross-braced skeleton; lead paint / PCB skin; stripped ~2000s; restored 2022–2025) - Hangars Two and Three, Moffett Field (1940s; partly wood; Hangar Two used by LTA for Pathfinder 1) - Cardington Sheds / Cardington Studios (UK; 1915; film industry reuse) - Former CargoLifter hangar, Germany (now world's largest indoor water park) ### Airships and aircraft - USS Akron and USS Macon (largest helium airships; Navy scouting; 784 ft; crashed 1933 / 1935) - Hindenburg (1937 disaster) - WWII / postwar Navy blimps (~300+; last ~1962; convoy ASW role) - Pathfinder 1 (LTA Research; >400 ft; fully electric; flights over SF Bay Area 2025) - Airbus A380 (size comparison) ### Places - Silicon Valley / Route 101; Moffett Field; San Francisco Bay; Sunnyvale - Akron, Ohio; Cardington (UK, ~50 miles from London); Berlin / CargoLifter site - Levi's Stadium (reused Hangar One wood) ### Organisations and tech - Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation; US Navy; NACA → NASA Ames Research Center - Google / Planetary Ventures (60-year Moffett lease from 2014; Hangar One recovery condition; ~1,000 acres) - LTA Research (Sergey Brin–funded; owns Akron Airdock since 2022; Moffett tenant) - Save Hangar One Committee; National Register of Historic Places - Rayon Design (paid promotion; web CAD, 50,000+ blocks, AI tools) ### Contaminants and remediation - PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), lead, asbestos in 1930s hangar skin/roof - NASA forensic link from Hangar One to nearby wetlands - Piece-by-piece removal of roof, sides, doors, windows; multi-year re-cladding ### Film / pop culture (reuse) - Batman films; Dick Van Dyke musicals; Star Wars Rebel base (twice) at Cardington Studios ## Biographies ### Fred Mills Founder and on-camera host of **The B1M**. Frames the hangar tour with a mock-1930s newsreel bit, walks through Akron/Hangar One engineering and the PCB crisis, voices the Rayon Design "B1M Air" sponsor sketch, and closes on whether airships return as cargo or passengers. ### Barry Prentice Professor at Canada's **University of Manitoba** (former Transport Institute director) and long-time airship advocate. Explains hangar-as-incubator economics, Cardington vs orange-peel door turbulence, Navy blimp convoy success, and argues Hangar One's quiet purpose is likely very large future airships. ### Lenny Siegel Co-founder of the **Save Hangar One Committee** (environmentalists and veterans). Describes NASA's PCB forensics, the lead/asbestos/PCB skin, the federal/NASA lease that required Hangar One's recovery, Google/Planetary Ventures as the only viable bidder, and how carefully the 2022–2025 restoration was done compared with 1930s construction. ### Sergey Brin Google co-founder (with Larry Page). Funds **LTA Research**, which bought the Akron Airdock and flies Pathfinder 1 from Moffett — tying the tech-giant rescue of Hangar One to a parallel revival of lighter-than-air craft.