Goodyear Airdock
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Goodyear Airdock
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The Goodyear Airdock
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| Location | S side of the Akron Fulton International Airport, Akron, Ohio |
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| Coordinates | 41°1′55″N 81°28′15″W / 41.03194°N 81.47083°WCoordinates: 41°1′55″N 81°28′15″W / 41.03194°N 81.47083°W |
| Built | 1929 |
| Architect | Albert Kahn |
| NRHP Reference # | 73002259 |
| Added to NRHP | April 11, 1973 |
The Goodyear Airdock is a construction and storage airship hangar in Akron, Ohio.
Built and previously owned by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation, later Goodyear Aerospace, it was constructed from April 20, 1929 to November 25, 1929, at a cost of $2.2 million (26.4 million 2007 US Dollars adjusted for inflation). The building was designed by Albert Kahn of Detroit, Michigan. At the time it was built, it was the largest building in the world without interior supports, and provided a huge structure in which "lighter-than-air" ships (later known as airships, dirigibles, and blimps) could be constructed. The first two airships to be constructed and launched at the Airdock were USS Akron (ZRS-4) and its sister ship, USS Macon (ZRS-5), built in 1931 and 1933, respectively. These first two airships were approximately 785 feet (239.27 m) in length.
The building has a unique shape which has been described as "half a silkworm's cocoon, cut in half the long way." It is 1,175 feet (358.14 m) long, 325 feet (99.06 m) wide, and 211 feet (64.31 m) high, supported by 13 steel arches. There is 364,000 square feet (34 000 m²) of unobstructed floor space, or an area larger than 8 football fields side-by-side. The Airdock has a volume of 55 million cubic feet (or about 1.5 million cubic meters). At the northeast end of the building a control tower and radio aerial are on top of the airdock. At each end of the building are two huge semi-spherical doors that each weigh 600 tons (544 000 kg). At the top, the doors are fastened by hollow forged pins 17 inches (43 cm) in diameter and six feet (1.83 m) long. The doors roll on forty wheels on specially-designed curved railroad tracks, powered by an individual power plant each, which can open the doors in about 5 minutes.
The Airdock is so large that temperature changes within the structure could be very different from that on the outside of the structure. To accommodate these fluctuations which could potentially cause structural damage, a row of 12 windows 100 feet (30.48 m) off the ground were installed. Furthermore, the entire structure is mounted on rollers to compensate for expansion or contraction resulting from temperature changes. Rumors (dating back to 1930) state that it actually rains inside the structure. When the humidity is high in the Airdock, a sudden change in temperature causes condensation. This condensation falls in a mist, creating the illusion of rain, according to the designer.
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