Tillamook Naval Air Station, on the coast west of Portland, Oregon, was established as a blimp base during WWII, one of eight new bases built at that time to defend the nation’s coast and fleet of naval ships at sea. The station had two 1,000-foot-long blimp hangars, built out of wood in 1943, which housed the eight blimps known as K-ships, the standard complement for blimp squadrons at that time. The base was decommissioned in 1948, and eventually became property of the Port of Tillamook Bay.The Port of Tillamook Bay rented the hangars to a variety of tenants over the years, who used it primarily for storage. In 1992 the hangar known as Hangar A had several tenants, including one who stored 135,000 bales of straw there. A fire started in the straw, and the hangar burned to the ground. The concrete portions of the hangar remain, including two pairs of columns that held up doors at either end of the structure. The site has been leased to a composting operation associated with the local dairy industry.