We just got back to Seaside, Oregon, after a long trip down the Oregon coast. During our drive we squeezed in a visit to the Tillamook cheese factory, visited the Blue Heron cheese store, and dropped by to see the jeeps and planes at the Tillamook Air Museum.
The building at the Air Museum was very cool, as it is the largest wooden structure in the world. According to the website, “Stationed at NAS Tillamook was Squadron ZP-33 with a complement of eight K-ships. The K-ships were 252 feet long and filled with 425,000 cu. ft. of helium. With a range of 2,000 miles and an ability to stay aloft for three days, they were well suited for coast patrol and convoy escort. Naval Air Station Tillamook was decommissioned in 1948.”
The facility is now an air museum with thirty air craft. Also housed at the museum are two jeeps. One jeep is a very nice CJ-3A that may (or may not) have been used by the Navy. No documentation is provided to show what its history was, but its paint job suggests a Navy affiliation.
The second jeep, according to the documentation, is a “1944 Willys Jeep. However, you can quickly see this is a militarized CJ-2A. The only military Item I could see was the front grille.
Here are a few pics:
The windshield looks military too, but other than that, not much to be seen. I’m surprised that a museum has one like this, with all the spare junk on the dash and such.
We visited Tillamook a couple of years ago and went to the Air Museum and also noted the two Jeeps and their more civilian leanings than military. Neat museum, though. The history of the NAS Tillamook was very interesting as well. I think Moffett NAS south of San Francisco also had the blimps for patrolling the California coast. For a short time in 1955, we lived opposite Moffett and could see the blimp hangars from our house.
We spent several days touring the Oregon coastline and enjoying the food, weather(cooler than Phoenix!) and the lighthouses. And the ice cream!
Ann, that is a great shot of the interior or the museum. Really emphasizes its size.