Hindenburg Remembered, 70 Years Later

(AP)  At 87, Robert Buchanan says he sometimes has trouble remembering what he did 10 minutes ago. But he can recall in vivid detail the day 70 years ago, when he watched the luxurious airship Hindenburg erupt into a fireball.

Flames roared across the surface of the mighty German dirigible only 100 or so feet above him, singeing his hair as he ran for his life.

"It was a piff-puff, just like someone would leave the gas on and not get the flame to it," said Buchanan, one of the last living members of the ground crew waiting to help the Hindenburg land.

Seventy years ago Sunday, the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg ignited while easing toward its mooring mast at the U.S. Navy base in Lakehurst. The blaze killed 35 people on board and one person in the ground crew; 62 passengers and crew members survived.

"I ran quite a distance because the heat, the flame, kept shooting out ahead of me," said Buchanan, of nearby Tuckerton. "And I really didn't think I was going to make it, frankly."

The huge airship — more than three times longer than a Boeing 747 — was engulfed in flames and sank to the ground in less than a minute. Photographers and newsreel crews on hand for the landing captured the scene, and a shocked radio station broadcaster recorded the often-replayed phrase "Oh, the humanity and all the passengers!"

The 804-foot-long Hindenburg was cutting-edge technology, with its fabric-covered, metal frame held aloft by more than 7 million cubic feet of lighter-than-air hydrogen. Flammable hydrogen had to be used because of a U.S. embargo on nonflammable helium.

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[randalds]

Posted by lslslsls1 at 01:50 AM : May 08, 2007

Have you considered Valium? Perhaps Prozac? Maybe a combination of both (but talk to your shrink first before you do that). Remember, never take them with alcohol or street drugs.

If you're in the L.A. or Phoenix areas I have some friends in the psychiatric field that I could recommend.

[kevboom]

What? No Republicans have blamed this on Clinton yet? You guys are sliding.

[lawandorder6]

thgdriver, you must be one. How old are you 80 90 what every , have a goiod past life. I don't drink, smoke are do those things you do A-s Ho-le

[lawandorder6]

I don't live in the passed. I bet all that you that do are having a good day. You have nothing else to do but live 70 years ago. Get a life.

[mo005]

inventagod2 : That was cool, thanks I didn't know that.

[randalds]

Oh come on people, you can find a way to blame the Bush administration on this as well. You've been able to do so with just about every other story on here.
Posted by mitch0927 at 05:33 PM : May 07, 2007

Nope, even I can't. Though his grandfather, Prescott Bush, was in financial bed with the Nazi's before and even after the start of WWII and I have no doubt that his lack of morality has passed down to Little Georgie Boy.

[ralan40]

But mitch0927, that is all these losers have: "other people's politics"
They'd rather be negative than to come up with any positive solutions. They don't care about the politics, they just want validation of their voices now that they know how to post something.

Inventagod2 is right, recent theories have been proven that show the covering was highly flamable. It is this incident that helped bring about the end of the dirigible, too bad, there are all kinds of places that this could be used for tourism.

[mitch0927]

Oh come on people, you can find a way to blame the Bush administration on this as well. You've been able to do so with just about every other story on here.

[inventagod2]

"A NASA scientist at Cape Caneveral has discovered the real cause. "Neither the hydrogen in the hull nor a bomb was to blame, but a special fabric for the outer skin that, when ignited, burns like dry leaves."

Bain%u2019s suspicions of the Zeppelin%u2019s fabric covering were raised when he learned that a cellulose nitrate (gun powder) dope with powdered aluminum (fuel used) might have been used on the Hindenburg. He was able to obtain a 60 year old piece of the fabric used to test his hypothesis. Furthermore, a hydrogen flame is almost invisible in day light; it burns a light blue. We know from many eye witness accounts as well as actual photographs, that the flames were red and orange. This supports his theory that hydrogen was not the source of the flames.

He was able to prove his theory into fact, and the plaque in the Kennedy Space Center has been changed reading a more accurate portrayal of the history of the Hindenburg. Scientists now agree that the outer covering was ignited by static electricity. It would appear that the Germans agree with them in their claim. German electrical engineer, Otto Beyersdorff, on 28 June 1937 wrote %u201CThe actual cause of the fire was the extreme easy flammability of the covering material brought about by discharges of an electrostatic nature.%u201D Furthermore in California in 1935, a helium (non combustible gas) filled airship went up in flames as well."

http://www.geocities.com/hydrogenpower1/essays/hindenburg.html

[house015]

How sad that the Nazis were more interested in showing off their fancy airship than in keeping it grounded until it was safe to fly. They gambled with these poor people's lives.