Moffett Hanger 1: Still with Skin
Oil on panel
Copyright 2011 Margaret Sloan

This fall I had the good fortune to be invited to a paint-out at Moffett Field. I chose to paint Hangar One, the gigantic house for the USS Macon, an airship so huge that even now, in this age of miracles, that it boggles my mind to imagine how big it was.

Hangar One loomed over my childhood landscape, although only from afar, as we weren’t  a military family, and in those days it was forbidden for non-military to visit the base. But it was a landmark that we always remarked on when coming home from vacations in the Sierra, and my dad, who’d actually done some work in the hangar always exclaimed, “that thing is so big, they’ve got their own weather in there!” It is big; see the little door at the bottom right of the painting? That little door is about 10 feet tall.

These days it’s possible for civilians to visit the base and get up close to the hangar. This painting is on view (along with other paintings and drawings) at the Moffet Field Historic Society Museum as part of an exhibit honoring the 70th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor. The exhibit lasts until January 7th, so there’s still some time to see it if you’re in the Bay Area. It’s a very interesting museum; make sure you leave time to get a tour from one of the docents!