#hydrogen
This is a very interesting subject. Books have been written about it, and survivors have written memoirs. There are photographs and films. I only mention a few points.
May 1937 - New Jersey, USA.
- The Hindenburg disaster was caused by a combination of factors, including the use of hydrogen as the lifting gas, the design of the airship, and the weather conditions on the day of the disaster. The hydrogen caught fire due to a spark or static electricity discharge, which ignited the highly flammable gas. The disaster resulted in the deaths of 36 people, and marked the end of the era of large commercial airships.
- The German Hindenburg airship had been designed to use helium for lift, but American export restrictions on helium meant that the airship had been filled with flammable hydrogen instead. As the spectators at Lakehurst, New Jersey looked on looked on, this triumph of engineering turned to tragedy.
- Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels ordered the Hindenburg to make its first public flight in March 1936 as part of a joint 4,100-mile aerial tour of Germany with the Graf Zeppelin to rally support for a referendum ratifying the reoccupation of the Rhineland.