Title: Hindenburg falls from the sky
1Hindenburg falls from the sky
On May 6th 1937 the Hindenburg, a Nazi passenger
blimp, as large, grand and doomed as the Titanic
fell from the sky. Herb Morrison is quoted saying
its burst into flame get out of the way ,
please,oh my, this is terrible.. Oh, the humanity
and all the passengers. For more information on
the Hindenburg Click here. There are three
theories as to what happened on that awful
day,for information on the three theories Click
here. There were witnesss watching the ship land
and reported many strange happenings to read
about these Click here. To see pictures of the
ship Click here. There are Essential words that
can be tied to this project for information
click here.
2Facts about the ship
May 6 th was the date of the disaster. The ship
was to land at Lakehurst airfield It was filled
with 804-foot 7millioncubic feet of hydrogen
61crew 36 passengers 92 navy and 139 civilian
ground crew 36 people total died only one was a
ground crew It was the first trip of the 1937
season the blimp had already completed 10 trips
1,002 passengers had already completed the trip.
Round trip cost 720, one way 400 The ship
had large common spaces, fine food, and a baby
grand piano. It was flown at an altitude of 650
feet . With a Speed of 78mph Lead by Captain
Pruss Back
3What Happened
Lighting storms and strong head winds delayed
the landing from 6am to 4pm. Winds of 25 knots
made it dangerous for the lighter than air ship
to land. At 600pm it started raining by 612pm
it was clear. Captain Pruss tried to slow the
blimp down in order to lower its altitude, and
than made a sharp left turn. At 721pm The
Hidenburg was still 300 ft in the air and 1000 ft
away from the landing site. At this point a
mushroom shaped flame rose from in front of the
tail section. Around 725 pm witnesses heard a
large boom. After that it took 34 seconds for the
blimp to go up in smoke. Some passengers jumped
or fell to their death but many were rescued
after the ship hit the ground. Back
4- The first theory is that US helium prices were
too high so the Germans used hydrogen instead.
The hydrogen had a gas leak and was ignited by a
spark of electricity. This theory is discredited
because helium would not have supported the
blimps design. - Second theory is that the air ship wasnt
grounded properly in one or more sections
allowing static electricity. This can be
discredited because the mooring lines were not
conductors. So static electricity could not have
gotten close enough to the blimp to cause it to
spark. - The third and most believed explanation is that
the skin of the ship had aluminum powder,
cellulose nitrate, and iron oxide which is
similar to rocket powder. This can be backed up
because the Hidenburg did not explode, it burned.
The fire had color and a hydrogen fire isn't
visible. The airship didnt crash immediately
after the fire started but waited 32 seconds in
the air. Also, the hydrogen was given the smell
of garlic for leak detection and there were no
leaks reported.
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5PIctures
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6Pictures
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7Pictures
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8Essential Words
One Essential word that relates to the Hindenburg
is Propaganda. This word relates because the
nazi( they funded the ship) put swastikas on the
blimp and I guess its negative propaganda for
them because it killed 36 people. A Second word
would be innovators. The Germans made the first
passenger blimp first and bigger than anyone
else. http//www.otr.com/hindenburg.html