A Building Big Enough to Assemble an Airship

Room for the Whole Ship

Goodyear-Zeppelin built the airdock in 1929 for airship construction in Akron. The Navy’s USS Akron and USS Macon took shape inside, each measuring 785 feet long. Their rigid frames had to fit under cover while crews installed the fabric, machinery, and other equipment.

The building allowed room for airships larger than either Navy vessel. At 325 feet wide, it provided working space around the hull as well as clearance above it. Steel arches carried the roof over the broad floor.

A roof that large presented a problem of its own. Wind passing over it could produce strong upward forces. Engineers tested a model in a wind tunnel before settling on the rounded shape, which guided air over the building.

Doors on Curved Tracks

At each end, enormous doors roll sideways along curved tracks. Their machinery opens the building across the width needed to move a completed airship outside.

The building also had to accommodate changes in temperature. Its structure was designed to allow movement as the steel expanded and contracted, and high windows helped ventilate the vast interior.

Airship work continued through World War II and into the postwar years. The Navy’s ZPG-3W, completed in 1960, was the last airship built there during Goodyear’s production era. Later uses included Goodyear Aerospace’s photographic operations.

The airdock remains a large, rounded landmark beside Akron’s airport. Its long roof and almost semicircular ends are visible from surrounding roads, although the industrial building is not a public walk-in attraction.