Hindenburg (ustabe History repeating itself (NAC))

[Russ Maki]

Gee, I wish I had gotten into this string earlier, but I was away from the
computer Saturday, in northern Illinois attending the Chicagoland MBZ.ORG
dieselfest! I can still hear the valve clatter...;-)


> Date: Sun, 17 Mar 2002 09:58:14 -0500
> From: Burl Vibert <blur at sympatico.ca>
> To: Robert Myers <robert at s-cars.org>
> Cc: Phil Payne <quattro at isham-research.com>, quattro at audifans.com
> Subject: Re: Hindenburg  (ustabe History repeating itself (NAC))
<snip>
> > >Very true, but even so the Hindenburg would seem to have been the
victim
> > >of something other
> > >than a hydrogen fire.  Hydrogen fires are almost colourless.
>
>
> > The fabric and paint and God (and perhaps some long ago German
engineer?)
> > only knows what other components of the airship may well fully account
for
> > the observed color of the Hindenberg flames.
>
>
> The fabric covering of the Hindenburg was doped with a layer of iron
> oxide covered with coats of cellulose butyrate acetate mixed with
> powdered aluminum.  Kinda like solid rocket fuel.  Neat huh?
>
> Burl Vibert
> 1987 5kcstq
> Kingston, Ontario

Not just like solid rocket fuel, but with a very efficient electrical
conductant (the aluminum) in an environment with thunderstorms (and high
levels of static electricity) on the day of the disaster, according to an
entry into the Congressional Record that cites a Popular Science article
from a few years back.
http://www.fas.org/spp/civil/congress/1998/s981006-zep.htm

As long as we're on the subject, an article on the Canadian Discovery
Channel website -- http://exn.ca/Stories/1997/05/06/05.asp -- notes that the
people who were burned in the fire that followed the explosion likely were
the victims of the flammable zeppelin skin and diesel fuel spilling from the
fuel tanks rather than burning hydrogen. The gas rose as it burned while the
other flaming material rained down upon the gondola.

Also, I've read that fewer than half the people aboard the craft died.

Russ Maki
Ixonia, Wis.
'87 4000cs quattro
'82 MB 300cd
...and other toys