Click2Disasters - The Hindenburg - Chapter 6

<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 6 - WHAT HAPPENED?</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">In addition to eyewitness testimony, archives have <a href="http://www.zeppelin-museum-zeppelinheim.de/das_video_vom_absturz_der_hinden.htm" target="_blank"><b>movies</b></a> and still photographs of the <i>Hindenburg</i> disaster. Decades later people still marvel at the magnitude of the tragedy. (Follow the link to see the Zeppelin Museum’s movie. Translated instructions: be patient while the movie loads; "sweep the mouse" over the still frame to play the movie.)</p> <p>Watching the movie we see a horrific tragedy. But what really happened? Following the link to a description of 4 <a href="http://www.weirs.com/w_times/2000archive/08/24/anatomy%20of%20crash.jpg" target="_blank"><b>key events</b></a>, we learn that:</p> <ul> <li>A tiny burst of flames was seen at about 7:25 p.m.<br><br> <li>The flames <a href="http://www.dwv-info.de/pm/hindbg/hb07.jpg" target="_blank"><b>spread</b></a> rapidly as the ship remained fairly level<br><br> <li>A huge geyser of flames erupted from midship<br><br> <li>The <a href="http://www.weirs.com/w_times/2000archive/08/24/frontpg.jpg" target="_blank"><b>downed ship</b></a> was an inferno within 34 seconds<br><br> </ul> <p>As Navy and ground crew personnel raced to help the victims, one man (Navy linesman Allen Hagaman) was killed. So were 35 people on board the <i>Hindenburg</i> plus 2 dogs. <p>Virtually nothing but questions remained. What had caused this terrible disaster? For years, people believed the most likely cause was the use of hydrogen. Some folks still believe that theory. But a retired NASA scientist recently found a different cause.</p> <p>Watching the film, examining still photos, reviewing eyewitness testimony and, surprisingly, testing 60-year-old airship covering, <a href="http://www.fsec.ucf.edu/images/bain.GIF" target="_blank"><b>Dr. Addison Baine</b></a> did not believe the fire’s source was hydrogen-related. His conclusions coincide with the findings of Otto Beyersdorff, a German electrical engineer who was part of the team assigned to investigate the fire on behalf of the Third Reich.</p> <p>There is one fundamental difference in their findings: timing. Beyersdorff reached his conclusion within five weeks of the disaster.</p> </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>     <a href="hindenburg_ch7.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>