Static Spark

Although the destruction of the Hindenburg three weeks ago was the most completely witnessed aerial disaster in history, the subsequent Department of Commerce inquiry at Lakehurst droned along inconclusively for two weeks until uprose a man who had been in Austria when the great dirigible burned. Although he had not seen the tragedy which cost 36 lives and $3,000,000,* wise old Dr. Hugo Eckener, world's No. 1 lighter-than-air authority, had spent a week looking at the wreckage, examining meteorological records, still and motion picture films, listening to the testimony of survivors and ground crew. When he took the witness chair, Dr. Eckener felt prepared to give the first comprehensive account of what happened and why.

Barring the possibility that the Hindenburg's commander, Captain Max Pruss, might reveal conflicting facts when he is recovered enough to testify, Dr. Eckener's explanation seemed likely to be accepted as final. He concluded that the disaster was caused: by lightning or static electricity from a small, following thunderstorm, igniting free gas high inside the rear of the envelope. Speaking in German translated by Vice President Frederick W. Meister of American Zeppelin Transport Co., and discarding sabotage in short order, Dr. Eckener reached his conclusion by the following reasoning: "Theoretically I believe there are only three possibilities of such ignition. First, the least probable is ball lightning. I have never seen it and have no knowledge of it or the conditions creating it. I only know that ball lightning can show peculiar actions, which are incalculable and moody.

From observations of witnesses who have described the appearance and dimensions of the fire, it would be difficult to assume that such a ball was the cause. . . .

"The second possibility is ignition from motor exhaust or sparks. I would like to very definitely decline this possibility. We have made such exhaustive tests of temperatures and the operation of Diesel engines. ... In our years of experience it has never happened that gas has been ignited by sparks while being valved. . . .

"We used to discharge gas through the bottom of the ship at the catwalk. Today it is done through ventilating shafts at the top of the ship. In earlier days the exhausts were located nearer to the central corridor than now, yet we never had any ignition then. Under those conditions we have valved gas hundreds of times without fire. . . .

"That gas, which we assume was present in the top of the ship, was ignited either by lightning or by a static spark. The meteorological situation . . . was such that a greater potential gradient* could not be present at the time of the fire. ... If one studies the wind directions and velocities and temperatures more closely as indicated on the charts, he can recognize that the first storm must have been followed by a smaller one.

"If these conditions were not noticed at the field, it was quite natural, as attention at that time was focused on the ship and its landing. We therefore say with all certainty that there was a small tail-end follower to the thunderstorm which had passed over. It was therefore not only possible but probable that a stronger gradient was created. If so it could have created a gradient between the storm and the ship, by the creation of St. Elmo's light or by a spark. . . .

"How did free gas become loose in the ship? ... A leak must have occurred in one of the rear cells. It has been reported that the ship was heavy at the stern, that water ballast was dropped three times, that gas was valved four times, and that six men were sent forward to the bow of the ship. ... It was so tail heavy . . . that about 70,000 kilograms had to be moved forward of the centre of gravity.

Therefore I am convinced that ... a leak must have occurred in the after part of the ship. . . . This assumption seems to have been confirmed by an observation made by a witness [Chief Boatswain's Mate R. H. Ward] who said he saw a peculiar flutter in the rear upper part of the outer cover and that it looked to him as if gas were escaping or rising at that point. . . .

"The ship proceeded in a sharp turn to approach its landing. Such a maneuver generates an extremely high tension in the after part of the ship, especially in the sections close to the stabilizing fins, which are braced by shear wires. One of these shear wires may have parted and caused a rent in a gas cell.

"If we assume this, then what happened subsequently can be easily fitted into what observers have testified. Gas escaped from the torn cells upward and filled the space between the outer cover and the cells in the rear part of the ship. Then this quantity of gas was ignited by a static spark. ..."

In other words, the Hindenburg became a gigantic lightning rod which drew a spark from the highly charged sky above, touching off an explosive mixture of hydrogen and oxygen.

In Washington, President Roosevelt last week appointed a committee of the Secretaries of the Interior, Commerce, State, War and Navy to study the sale of helium to Germany. Chosen chairman was Secretary of the Interior Ickes, who is already chairman of a helium control board. Said Dr. Eckener, preparing to go to Washington this week: "I am very happy over the noble step taken by President Roosevelt."

*Last week in Berlin, British and German insurance companies paid Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei $2,400,000. About $10,000 more will be paid to the heirs of each of the deceased.

*Gradient = rate of change of the atmosphere's electrical charge.

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