FLYING Magazine
“Thank you for the wake-up call.”
That’s how Dallas Adams, president of the Friends of Tillamook Air Museum (FOTAM), opened his remarks to the board of the Port of Tillamook Bay last week in Oregon, referring to the May meeting where it voted 4-1 not to proceed with repairs to the roof of Hangar B that was heavily damaged by a windstorm in December.
At that May meeting the board explained the decision was reached after months of discussion, financial analysis, and consultation with industry experts, taking into account the long-term financial sustainability of the historic structure and the significant local financial obligations tied to any potential repair effort.
- READ MORE: Tillamook’s Historic Hangar B Will Not Be Repaired
- READ MORE: ‘Beacon’ Restored: Hangar One at Moffett Federal Airfield Reclaims Its Glory
It was this bad news that helped the FOTAM get its volunteers more organized to save the World War II-era hangar, according to Adams.
“The motion from the last port meeting was difficult to hear,” said Adams at last week’s board meeting. “Many of us left disappointed, frustrated, and concerned about the future of Hangar B. But sometimes a wake-up call is exactly what is needed. The reality is that the hurdles facing the Save Hangar B movement are enormous. For too long, many of us believed that somehow someone else would solve the problem. The port has its share of responsibility. But so does FOTAM.”
Adams noted that although FOTAM has been trying to raise money to pay for repairs, it needs to expand the group’s reach to outside of rural Oregon.
“We haven’t generated enough national attention,” he said. “We haven’t told the story loudly enough. We haven’t convinced enough people outside Tillamook that this giant wooden cathedral is worth saving.”
The FOTAM is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and structural maintenance of the iconic WWII-era Hangar B.
Board president Jack Mulder explained the port is trying to find ways to preserve Hangar B that could include partnerships to raise money for the repairs and long-term preservation along with the reopening of the museum.
Adams encouraged continued collaboration between FOTAM, preservation groups, public agencies, and community members, commenting that as long as Hangar B remains standing, there is still time and opportunity to find solutions.
The hangar stands 192 feet high and 296 feet wide and spans 1,072 feet long. In December 2025 a powerful windstorm tore a hole 200 feet by 30 feet near the transition point between the convex roof and vertical wall. In addition to the logistical challenge of patching that hole, care must be taken to preserve the historic integrity of one of the largest wooden structures in the world that was built in 1942 to house Navy K-ships.
The museum has been closed since the storm, and most of the artifacts have been relocated. The port’s immediate concerns are a hanging portion of the damaged roof, asbestos abatement, and site stabilization.
Adams told the board about a recent trip he made to Moffett Field in Mountain View, California, the home of Hangar One, an airship facility built in 1931 to house the Navy airship USS Macon. Although the Navy had abandoned dirigibles in favor of airplanes and K-ships (blimps) by WWII, the hangar remained.
The Navy left the base in the 1990s, and the hangar, which was seriously showing signs of age, was considered for demolition. The skin of the building was removed to mitigate asbestos, PCS, and lead, common materials used in construction of that period. For many years it looked like a giant birdcage looming over Silicon Valley, then the landmark was restored by Google subsidiary Planetary Ventures.
Today another airship company, LTA, operates out of Moffett from Hangar Two, a WWII-era fully restored building in the shadow of Hangar One.
FOTAM and the port both said they recognize raising the money to fix the hangar and the repairs and maintenance will be a long-term process.
FOTAM has a fund-raising campaign going to help repair and maintain the historic structure. Meanwhile, the port is looking at grants and working with the Oregon Department of Energy Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) because the hangar was damaged by a winter storm. One of the tasks will be to repair the large flap of roof that was peeled back by the winds and remains attached to the building, causing a safety concern.
The cost of the repairs to Hangar B depend on the source. According to a report from Portland, Oregon, station KGW-TV, the cost of repairs to Hangar B range between $2.5 million and $6.5 million.