Click2Disasters - The Hindenburg - Chapter 7

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>THE <i>HINDENBURG</i> DISASTER</p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 7 - WHAT CAUSED IT?</b></font></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Otto Beyersdorff wrote two letters that detail his findings. Neither were included in the official German report. Today those letters are part of the archives at Friedrichshafen, the town where the <i>Hindenburg</i> was <a href="http://www.zeppelinfan.de/images/content/bild_lz129_01.jpg" target="_blank"><b>built</b></a>.</p> <p>People have always suspected sabotage, but the <a href="http://foia.fbi.gov/hindburg.htm" target="_blank"><b>FBI report</b></a> does not support that conclusion. Others have thought bad weather caused the fire, but the great airship had been through many storms without a major problem. Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of the Third Reich, determined the cause was "an Act of God." Many people blamed the use of hydrogen instead of helium. But Dr. Baine’s <a href="http://www.dwv-info.de/pm/hindbg/hbe.htm#Meinung" target="_blank"><b>findings</b></a> are directly on point with the Beyersdorff letters which, translated, <a href="http://www.dwv-info.de/pm/hindbg/hbe.htm#Geheimnis" target="_blank"><b>state</b></a>:</p> <blockquote><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>The actual cause of the fire was the extremely easy flammability of the covering material brought about by the discharges of an electrostatic nature.</blockquote></b></i></font> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">In other words, the <a href="http://www.dwv-info.de/pm/hindbg/hb02.jpg" target="_blank"><b>exterior paint</b></a> on the <i>Hindenburg</i> caught fire and burned like dry leaves after a spark from an unknown source started the fatal process. Or, as Dr. <a href="http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/bain.htm" target="_blank"><b>Baine</b></a> and his <a href="http://www.dwv-info.de/pm/hindbg/hbe.htm#Autoren" target="_blank"><b>colleagues</b></a> put it, the great airship (which still had about 5 million cubic feet of hydrogen on board) was:</p> <center><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>A <a href="http://www.dwv-info.de/pm/hindbg/hbe.htm#Streichholz" target="_blank">flying match</a> known as<br> "Hindenburg."</center></b></i></font> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">Whatever the cause of the disaster, the death of the <i>Hindenburg</i> ended the use of rigid airships as commercial transports. Modern blimps (non-rigid dirigibles that do not ferry people across the ocean) are mere reminders of what used to be. And, it’s safe to say, when people look at the blimps of today many remember the tragedy of yesterday.</p> <blockquote><b>NOTE</b>: Several excellent sites, linked in this story, feature the <i>Hindenburg</i> disaster. The best of all is the <a href="http://www.nlhs.com/hindenburg.htm" target="_blank"><b>Naval Lakehurst Historical Society</b></a>.</blockquote> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="hindenburg_ch5.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>     <a href="hindenburg_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>