You know our aircraft hangars you see from the Atlanta airport runways with the neon “Fly Delta Jets” sign? They’re just one part of an enormous maintenance complex, our Techical Operations Center (TOC), which opened as a new Jet Overhaul Base in December 1960. This photo shows the “Fly Delta Jets” sign being installed on the roof in 1968:
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The original Jet Base occupied 55 acres with 9 acres of buildings. By 1998, the TOC had expanded up to 63 acres under roof.
Delta’s cantilevered hangar was an engineering marvel in 1960. It had a clear-span length of 170 feet, making the 420-foot hangar the longest of its type attempted at that time. It also had the largest doors (open area) of any such structure in the United States, to accomodate our growing Douglas DC-8 and Convair 880 jet fleet.
For more “eye-opening facts” and photos, see this 1960 brochure “Delta Opens New Jet Base at Atlanta Airport.”
Although access to the TOC is restricted, you can visit our original 1940s Hangars 1 and 2, which we outgrew when the jets arrived. Today they house the Delta Museum and its collection of historic aircraft.
Marie Force
March 10th, 2010 at 9:55 am
Thank you, Justin, for featuring this post on http://widgetheads.net/