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Looking east from the main entrance road to decommissioned Walker Air Base near Hays,
Kansas. The building in view is the first airplane hanger built on
the base. The base opened in 1943 to train pilots. The hanger
has a collapsed roof.
1.
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View looking northeast from the main access road to a airplane hanger
that has an intact roof. Walker Air Base was used to train WW II
B-29 pilots. The base was decommissioned in early 1946 & sold
to private interests in 1959.
2.
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View southeast to the original airplane hanger.
This hanger was the first built and the only one of five hangers with
brick veneer corner towers.
The concrete wall with buttresses provided support
for the massive wood bow trusses that created the large clear floor space
needed to house a B-29.
3.
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Another view of the original hanger from the south side looking northeast.
The large wood bow trusses simply collapsed into the hanger bay probably due to high wind and
lack of maintenance.
4.
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View west from the concrete tarmac to the northern most hanger with
intact roof. The tarmac is in supprisingly good shape.
It is probably very thick concrete on a stable base. This hanger
was used for grain storage in the past.
5.
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Only one of the original hanger door sections survives. The
wall behind the door section was built to support the weight of grain.
6.
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View inside the hanger used as grain storage. Image is looking at
the concrete abutements that supported the main wood bow trusses.
Clear span in the range of 150 feet plus. There were three other
identical hangers like this hanger built after the original. The
original hanger had brick veneer corner towers.
7.
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