Durable Airplane Hangars in steel.
Airplane hangars are usually steel buildings since steel offers outstanding protecting against the environment, as well as against accidents, sabotage, terrorism and enemy attacks during wartime. Hangars are used to house a wide range of different aircrafts for military and civilian use; from helicopters and tiny propeller planes to huge Concords. More extraordinary aircrafts, such as space ships and helium-filled blimps, are found inside specially designed hangars. Airplane hangars are used to protect aircraft between flights and will also serve as the working place for mechanics and inspectors that are repairing, altering and checking the vessel. Today, huge airplane hangars can even be found on ships.
The history of the airplane hangars begins in 1902 when the famous Wright brothers create a wooden hangar for their gilder airplane on Kill Devil Hill in North Carolina. This hangar protected the gilder form the environment and also made it easier for the brothers to continuously maintain and repair their airplane. Orville and Wilbur Wright left their hangar and went to Ohio to work on the first powered aircraft – Kitty Hawk. Their design proved successful and Kitty Hawk, also known as the Wright Flyer, made her first flight on December 17, 1903. When the Wright brothers return to North Carolina, they did however find their hangar damaged and broken. They repaired their hangar and made it suitable for Kitty Hawk, and they also added a work shop.
One of the first metal airplane hangars was built a few years later, when Louise Bleriot returned back home after having crash-landed near a farm in Les Baraques, France and a farmer offered him to keep his airplane in the cattle pen. Since Louise Bleriot was currently involved in a race to be the first person ever to fly across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft, the offer to keep his airplane in Les Baraques – a small region located between Sangatte and Clais in northern France – was very welcomed. When Louise Bleriot returned home he contacted a manufacturer that created steel cattle pens, and arranged for three “hangars” to be built for his airplanes. The word hangar actually means cattle pen in one of the dialects spoken in northern France.
Airship hangars are typically much bigger than standard airplane hangars, which mean that they must be constructed even more vigilantly. Steel is a common material in airship hangars since different types of steel can be used for various parts of the hangar, in order to make sure that the parts are strong enough to withstand the various strains and fulfill the disparate requirements regarding flexibility and ductility. An airship is a buoyant aircraft that contains a gas lighter than air. Unlike the air balloons, an airship is propelled through the air and can be more precisely steered. Due to this ability, airships are also called dirigibles, from the French dirigeable, an adjective which means steerable. The specific construction of the airships places specific requirements on their hangars. Airplanes and helicopters stay in the air by forcefully moving an airfoil and make use of the aerodynamic force that is produced by this action. Airships, such as blimps and balloons, will instead fly after being filled with a gas that is lighter than the surrounding air. In a hot air balloon, this is simply air that is heated up inside the balloon, but in larger airships some other type of gas is used. Since the commonly used gases are highly flammable, it means that an airship hangar must follow a wide range of safety rules. The first airships were filled with hydrogen, a very light gas that provides the vessel with great buoyancy. Later, this gas was replaced by less flammable helium, but the need for non-combustible airship hangars such as steel airplane hangars remained.
When not in use, an airplane must be protect from the elements in order for it to stay safe and able to withstand the forces it will be exposed to in the air. Proving an airplane with a high-quality hangar is therefore a very good investment that will add safety to your flying as well as save you money and maintenance trouble in the long run. Steel hangars are extremely popular among airplane keepers, since they are safe, affordable, reliable and low maintenance. With a steel hangar you will never have to spend any time or money rescuing your hangar from the attacks of mold, mildew, carpenter bees, carpenter ants or termites. Most airplane owners prefer to spend time and money on their planes, not on hangar maintenance.
Steel is a sturdy material and you can therefore choose among a wide range of different designs when selecting your airplane hangars. Regardless of whether you are keeping a small propeller plan or own a large fleet, you will be able to find the perfect hangar for you. Many steel hangars will also be designed in a way that makes it easy to add additional space to them in the future, or connect them with other hangars. This provides you with a high level of flexibility and you never have to pay for an over-sized hangar. When your business expands or when you pass an additional pilot test and upgrade your fleet with a larger type of aircraft, you can easily modify your existing hangar and make it fit your new needs.
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