Updated: July 16, 2025
Last week, we visited the Hangar Hotel & Airport Diner in Fredericksburg, Texas. It’s a World-War II themed 50-room hotel built in 1995 that looks like a Quonset hut used by the US Army Air Force in the South Pacific during the 1940’s. I wanted to share some photos and related music, videos, and movies that you might find interesting.
We read an article “Hit the Road” in the Texas Coop Power magazine that we receive as a member of the Pedernales Electric Cooperative. The weather was great and nearby Becker Vineyards in Stonewall, Texas (east of Fredericksburg) was having our quarterly wine club pickup party that Sunday, so this sounded like a nice day trip. Click the image link to read the article or view the slideshow of 5 photos. See its location in Google Maps link.
Texas Co-op Power
Hit the Road by Eileen Matei in Texas Co-op Power (June 2014)
Tour
This video (2:24) from Fun Places to Fly provides a great tour of the Hangar Hotel and Airport Diner.
The Hangar Hotel - YouTube video (2:24)
Hotel
When you first arrive from the parking lot, you see the back of the Hangar Hotel after you walk past an old aircraft sitting out on the lawn, which was being washed down and cleaned that day. There is a tall water tower right next to the hotel.
You can see the two levels of rooms as we walked around the left side of the hotel toward the Airport Diner that was located opposite the hotel right next to the runway, where we planned to have lunch. There is a photo with another view looking back from the runway showing the palm trees and water tower a little better.
The front of the hotel faces the runway of the Gillespie County Airport. There are rocking chairs on the upper and lower porches where guests can watch the sunsets and planes.
These are the outside photos I took during our visit to the Hangar Hotel.
Officer's Club
The Officer’s Club is the hotel bar and lounge with red leather chairs and fireplace. Just outside the entrance, there is a billboard with a nose-art pinup girl that reads I Sleep Like a Baby. Also there is a searchlight and palm tree reminiscent of the South Pacific during World War II. Outside the Officer’s Club, there is an old wagon for the Fredericksburg Brewing Company, which adds some character to that entrance.
Lobby
After entering through the Officer’s Club, you come into the hotel lobby, which had old World War II memorabilia everywhere and 1940’s music playing in the background to get you into the mood of that period. There’s an old wooden front desk with mail slots, and there is a row of clocks overhead for major time zones (but I missed that in my photo).
Ruptured Duck
On the hotel lobby wall is an airplane panel with the The Ruptured Duck nose art painting of Donald Duck on crutches from the B-25B Mitchell medium bomber flown by Ted W. Lawson in the Doolittle Raid over Tokyo in World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942. He piloted the 7th plane in the squadron and after the mission was completed he crashed in the China coast where he was critically injured and had his leg amputated to save his life.
I captured these photos: hotel front desk, Ruptured Duck nose art on airplane panel, and a view of the runway from Airport Diner.
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
When he returned, pilot Ted Lawson wrote the book Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, which became a movie in 1944 starring Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson, Robert Mitchum, Robert Walker, and Phyllis Thaxter based on his crew’s experiences. View this short trailer (3:05), or watch the full movie free (with commercials) at Tubi TV (2h 19m).
Airport Diner
Private planes can fly into Gillespie County Airport and eat at the Airport Diner. It offers a 1940’s theme with Bomber Burgers on the menu and little planes on the counter with mints and hanging as mobiles from the lights. I included a view of the planes on the tarmac from our window booth seat during lunch.
Activities
There are plenty of things to do and see in the Fredericksburg area. If you have an RV instead of a private plane, there is the Lady Bird Johnson RV Park. If you are driving by car, bring your golf clubs since there is an 18-hole Lady Bird Golf Course, which is a nice place to play during your visit. The Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park has additional amenities including picnic areas, tennis, and swimming pool. About 30 minutes east is the LBJ National Historical Park which features the former president’s home and ranch.
Cotton Gin Village
Across the highway is the old Cotton Gin Village, which is a quaint bed and breakfast with 19th century log cabins of various sizes such as the Rio Grande room shown below, which is fairly close to the entrance near the waterfall and fish pond. There are also modern cottages, and you can eat dinner at the award-winning upscale Cabernet Grill which features Texas cuisine and Texas wine.
National Museum of the Pacific War
Nearby in downtown Fredericksburg, Texas is the National Museum of the Pacific War highlighted in this video tour.
Texas Hill Country
National Geographic magazine included a Texas Hill Country Road Trip as one of the world’s most spectacular car trips in their book on the 500 Drives of a Lifetime.
The Texas Hill Country was selected as one of the Top Ten Wine Travel Destinations for 2014 by Wine Enthusiast magazine. When this article was originally written, there were only 14 local wineries in the Fredericksburg area; however now (in 2025) there are about 8o in that area, with 60 wineries on the Texas Hill Country Wine Trail.
Becker Vineyards
Of course, we stopped at Becker Vineyards to pickup our quarterly wine club bottles and enjoy the pickup party food and live music on a lovely day.
Music
Here’s some background music for this story. Of course, there’s Moonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller, which was so popular during the war. Also, I included the hit song Bali Ha’i from the South Pacific Broadway musical in 1967.
Moonlight Serenade by Glenn Miller on Pure Gold (1980)
Spotify song link: https://open.spotify.com/track/3XiFWZoHQtGUYIdtShPwPD?si=01fde4e470644233
Bali Ha’i on Original Soundtrack of South Pacific (1995)
Spotify song link: https://open.spotify.com/track/3xeZCv2zJguniFYYvGQceq?si=59eaf3b0ce1a4a5b
Summary
It was a nice drive on a Sunday afternoon, we explored some new places, enjoyed the winery food and music, and picked up some wine.
