A friend of mine who works in commercials told me he was working down in Irvine to shoot a car commercial inside one of the blimp hangers at the former Navy/Marine base. I told him how I had worked on a small Virgin Lightship when I was younger and how cool the hanger was. He knew of my photography hobby and invited me to come down and shoot. So I did.

When I was 21 I got a chance to work work on the blimp and travelled across the country to work as a ground crewman. Got to go up over Boston, New York and Orlando. It was a great job for someone not going to college.

I believe this was taken on the day of the Desert Storm parade in 2001. I was riding that day in the ship on the left with the red tail. We flew around the entire island, the Statue of Liberty, and Governors Island. Truly a standout moment of my life. I just wish I didn’t have to rip off pictures from the internet to document my life.

This site has some really great photos that I didn’t take and very interesting historical bits about the hanger.