By Karen House

• 1: Introduction
• 2: History of the Weeksville Blimps
• 3: Modern Operations
• 4: Blimp FAQ
• Download the full article as a

History of the Weeksville Blimps

In 1941, the U.S. needed a way to patrol enemy submarines off the coast. In the age before the helicopter, the blimp was it. North Carolina was selected for a base because of its mid-Atlantic coast location and its proximity to the Navy an hour away in Norfolk, Va. Operations at Weeksville Naval Air Station (LTA) started on June 8, 1942. The compound on the outskirts of Elizabeth City spanned 822 acres, boasted a steel hangar with space for 12 Navy “K” airships, and could house 700 enlisted men and 150 officers. A second hangar, all wood and 1,028 feet long, was finished in 1943.

Before the Weeksville blimps began patrolling, German submarines off the North Carolina coast destroyed one sailing vessel every other day. After the blimps began patrolling the coast, the number dropped to one every 75 days or so.

After World War II, the blimps left. Weeksville operations turned to heavier-than-air craft and motor vehicle storage. Then in 1947, a Navy blimp squadron was transferred to Weeksville. The mighty blimps were back!

In the mid-1950s, the busy base was at its zenith. Inventory records at that time show 10 blimps and 12 helicopters, two blimp squadrons and an anti-submarine helicopter squadron based in Weeksville. Large groups of men trooped in and out of Weeksville, energetically performing temporary fleet exercises off the coast and exploring the area’s nightlife.

The men’s impact must have been even clearer when they departed. Elizabeth City’s newspaper reported on May 31, 1957, that the squadrons had suddenly been decommissioned. Thirty days later, on June 30, 1957, Weeksville Naval Airstation closed its gates and an era ended.

From 1971 to 1995 the wooden hangar was used as the manufacturing facility of TCOM, L.P. and Westinghouse Airships, Inc. The metal hangar was used for cabinet manufacturing. In 1995, a welder’s spark started a fire in the wooden hangar and by daybreak, the world’s “largest wooden building” was gone, along with irreplaceable pictures and documents. TCOM L.P. rallied, purchased the metal hangar and moved in. The hangar’s mammoth doors parted once more to blimps.