Tillamook Air Museum calls for volunteers before reopening after storm damage

The Tillamook Air Museum in Oregon is asking for volunteers to help get its facility ready to reopen, with a work party scheduled for Friday, October 9 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. PDT.

Hangar B has been shut since December, when a windstorm opened a roughly 200-foot by 30-foot gash in the roof of the 83-year-old building at Tillamook Municipal Airport, about 75 miles southwest of Portland. The structure measures 1,072 feet in length, 296 feet in width and 192 feet in height.

At the time of the storm the area under the damaged roof was mainly used for storage, but exhibits were still exposed. Volunteers moved some items and covered others with tarps while the Port of Tillamook Bay and museum officials assessed whether and how the World War II-era hangar, originally built for Navy airships, could be fixed.

In August the Port of Tillamook Bay Board of Commissioners approved selling the museum to the nonprofit Vintage Aviation Museum. The buyer has been working with contractors and the port to get the wooden structure ready for repairs, starting with removal of the damaged roof section.

Museum officials said the damage is at the far end of the hangar, away from where volunteers will be working. Those taking part are asked to clean aircraft, exhibit boards and glass doors, and to take down and fold the tarps that have shielded exhibits during the closure. Some smaller aircraft need to be moved back into place, and gift shop merchandise will be inventoried. Supplies, materials and refreshments will be provided.