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US Navy swastika building on Google Maps mystery solved?

While browsing strange news I came across this item from 2007: Google Maps forces Navy to redesign swastika building. It tells the bizarre tale about the U.S. Navy, somehow, inadvertently put up this Navy Seal training building in the shape of a Swastika in 1967. A snapshot of the building from Google Maps is shown here from 2006.


Google Map Image, captured May 8, 2006 by Flickr user Si1very


What a mess! How could this be? How could they accidentally put up a building in the shape of a swastika? In 2007 we find the Navy response in this L.A. Times article, Navy to mask barracks shaped like a swastika. Here, they outline the Navy’s plans to change the aeriel view of the building with some additional construction and landscaping. So, what must it look like today?

I took a look and here is what I found.


This snapshot from Google Maps on 8/9/2015 shows the building still in the shape of a swastika. See the map view here. (Note, the actual map view could change at any time.)


What?! It still looks like a swastika! Nothing has obviously changed! What does this mean?

Now it’s time for a little speculation. I backed the view up a little bit away from the swastika and I saw another picture, as one generally does when one steps back from something. There are another pair of very oddly shaped buildings in line with the swastika building. Do these tell a different story. Here’s the snapshot from the map.


Pulling back from the swastika building shows two other strangely shaped buildings.


Do you see it? Those two buildings could be airplanes, navy bombers flying toward the Nazi menace. Here, I’ve enhanced everything a little to tell the story that I see.


Enhanced view shows what could be bombers flying toward the swastika


Are these buildings actually a memorial for the air battle against the Nazis in World War II? They very well could be! The strange airplane tail shape in the buildings is obvious.

If this is the story, why is the Navy shy to share it? Did the architect do it as a personal statement and never told his secret?

We may never know the truth, but it’s a fascinating mystery.

Know of any other architectural mysteries? Share it with us!

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