Floating Hangars

Floating Hangars. Sea and Sky: Juneau's Links to the World. The waterfront was the center of regional air transportation because float-planes were so well-suited for reaching the outlying places they served. There is little flat terrain in Southeast Alaska, and it was hard to find a place for a wheeled aircraft to land. Juneau International Airport did not open until 1935., Small, floating hangars, built on log rafts, initially sheltered floatplanes in the harbor. In 1928, the first hangar on land was built at the floatplane dock. Ten years later, a larger hangar to house local aircraft was built on the wharf above. That 5-place hangar at the foot of Main Street would become the Seadrome, hub and heart of waterfront aviation for years to come., Floatplanes regularly took off from the Gastineau Channel. But in 1937, it was a floating hanger that took off. Propelled by high winds, the hangar broke loose of its mooring. As it drifted across the channel to the beach on Douglas Island, mechanic Lloyd Jarman fought to keep the floatplane inside from becoming airborne., Captions , (Left) The single aircraft of the Gastineau Flying Club, the Oompah, an Aeronca C3, was based downtown in one of the floating hangars. (Jim Ruotsala Collection) , (Right, clockwise from top) , . The waterfront has hosted all manner of strange birds (including this Savia Marchetti twin-hulled floatplane. (Lloyd Jarman Collection, Alaska State Library) , . Luggage Label Juneau-Douglas City Museum Collection , . Small commercial hangar om the Juneau waterfront (Jim Ruotsala Collection)