10 Gifts for Gearheads

The most striking aspect of the Chapel is its row of seventeen spires. The original design called for twenty-one spires, but this number was reduced due to budget issues. The structure is a tubular steel frame of 100 identical tetrahedrons, each 75 feet (23 m) long, weighing five tons, and enclosed with aluminum panels. The panels were fabricated in Missouri and shipped by rail to the site. The tetrahedrons are spaced a foot apart, creating gaps in the framework that are filled with 1-inch-thick (25 mm) colored glass. The tetrahedrons comprising the spires are filled by triangular aluminum panels, while the tetrahedrons between the spires are filled with a mosaic of colored glass in aluminum frame. The Cadet Chapel itself is 150 feet (46 m) high, 280 feet (85 m) long, and 84 feet (26 m) wide. The front façade, on the south, has a wide granite stairway with steel railings capped by aluminum handrails leading up one story to a landing. At the landing is a band of gold anodized aluminum doors, flanked by gold anodized aluminum panels, designed and detailed to match the doors. The shell of the chapel and surrounding grounds cost $3.5 million to build. Various furnishings, pipe organs, liturgical fittings and adornments of the chapel were presented as gifts from various individuals and organizations. In 1959, a designated Easter offering was also taken at Air Force bases around the world to help complete the interior. The Chapel closed in September 2019 for a $158 million renovation and restoration project needed to address water damage. Netsch's original plans included a series of rain gutters just underneath the aluminum exterior of the Chapel's spires, but these were not built due to budget constraints, and the seams between the panels were caulked instead. Though the seams were repeatedly re-caulked over the years, decades of leaks left extensive water damage to the main floor. During the renovation, an enormous temporary "hangar" will be built over the existing structure; workers will then remove the aluminum panels and stained glass, install the originally-designed rain gutters, then replace all the panels and glass. The Chapel's furniture and pipe organs will be renovated as well. The project is scheduled to be completed by November 2022.