From the early days of aviation, hangars have been used to protect airplanes and the people who fly and work on them. The Wright brothers, who have been recognized as the first to fly a powered airplane, used two wooden sheds — one as a workshop and the other as a hangar — to protect themselves and their precious components as they finalized the design of the Wright Flyer. These buildings were significant enough that they were rebuilt at the memorial that now exists on the site of the historic flight in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
It’s no coincidence that the early hangars looked like simple sheds. The word sprung up in the mid-1800s from the French word hangar, which, in fact, meant shed. In many cases, that is still all a hangar is — a very basic enclosure that protects one or several airplanes.
