On Friday, May 19, 2017 at 11:50:07 AM UTC-4, -MIKE- wrote:
On 5/18/17 11:34 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 7:57:52 PM UTC-4,
wrote:
On Wed, 17 May 2017 15:39:35 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03
wrote:

On Wednesday, May 17, 2017 at 11:37:53 AM UTC-4, Scott Lurndal
wrote:
John McCoy writes:
Steve wrote in
:

Well yes I am, but seriously, this came over my LinkedIn
feed today, and is pretty cool. Newly-developed, major
commercial in Minneapolis. 7 stories, 238,000 Sq. Ft.
Thought I'd share.

"The foundation, core, and ground floor are concrete, but
the rest of the seven-story structure is timber, making it
the largest timber building in North America."

Good marketting PR speak, but factually untrue. The largest
timber building in NA would be one of the blimp hangers the
Navy built in WW2, of which half a dozen still exist. They
are about 10 times as large as this new building.

The hanger for the USS Macon (1933 Moffett Field) has a steel
structure, which is currently quite obvious when one drives by,
since the outer skin has been removed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangar..._California%29



The Goodyear Airdock (1929) is also steel structure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodyear_Airdock


My family and I had the pleasure of taking off from and landing
in the field next to the Goodyear Airlock. Guess what we were
flying in?

The Goodyear Blimp!

It was one of the coolest things I've ever done.

We lived in the Akron area for a year. Goodyear Blimps flew
around the area all the time.

Didja every get a free ride? :-)

One cool part is to feel them power up to land. Obviously, they have
to force them to go down.

(As a kid I used to see them over NYC all the time. Never imagined
that I'd ever get to go up in one)


Your worlds are colliding, now, DerbyDad. The Soap Box Derby in Akron
is held just across the field from the Goodyear Blimp hangar. You can
go on google maps and see how close they are.

Actually, it wasn't a collision, it was a direct connection.

Back in the late 90's, early 2000's, Goodyear was a corporate sponsor of the Soap Box
Derby. The blimp always made an appearance at the World Championships at Derby Downs
in Akron. One of the perks of winning the World Championship in one of the 3 divisions was
a ride in the blimp. The race is always held on a Saturday in July and the blimp ride is usually
taken the next day while the champion, their family and of course, the blimp, is in town.

In 2003 my son won the World Championship in the Masters (top) division and we were planning
on taking our ride the next day. Early on Sunday morning we got a phone call that it was too
windy for the blimp to fly. We were told to expect a letter from Goodyear which basically
amounted to a lifetime pass worth 1 free blimp ride for my son and (maybe) some guests.
In essence, the letter said that at anytime that my son and the blimp were in the same area,
and there was room and there was time and etc. etc., my son would be able to take his free ride.
It was essentially a lifetime hit or miss, maybe it'll happen someday kind of thing.

Fast forward to 2004. My daughter wins the local race in our city, which qualifies her for the
World Championship race in Akron. We go to Akron where she is unfortunately eliminated
early in the day. That's when I notice a Goodyear table in the vendor section near the track.
I round up the family and with the letter from Goodyear in my hand, I go over to speak to
them. An hour later we are all in a van heading out onto the field near the old blimp hanger
watching the blimp land to pick up us!

Now, keep in mind that the blimp ride is usually given on the Sunday after the race, when
the crowds have gone home and the only activity at Derby Downs is a bunch of families
loading their kid's cars into trailers for the trip home. In our case, we're getting our ride
*during* the World Championships when the place is packed with hundreds or racers,
thousands of family members, etc. In addition, since this was a spur of the moment thing,
it ended up being a private flight with my entire family of 6 being able to go. Sweet!

I can just about guarantee that we are the only Champion's family that got to watch the
World Championship race from the blimp. It was an unforgettable opportunity. Truly a
once in a lifetime experience for most families.




The hangar was a popular field trip destination for school kids in the
Akron area. I still remember visiting it when I was very young. At the
time, it was the largest self-supported structure in the world. It was
so big and high inside that it would actually rain inside the hangar.
The rain was really condensation on the roof that would drip down, but
that's kinda what rain is.


--

-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com

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