From the March 4, 2013, Lookout by Claudine Zap.
Researchers now are sure that static electricity that caused the airship to crash.
Seventy-six years ago, the German dirigible Hindenburg, the future of trans-Atlantic flight, docked at Lakehurst, New Jersey, on May 6, 1937.
The fire and crash killed 35 of the 100 passengers and crew.
It was also believe that possibly a bomb or exploding paint caused it. Models have shown that these didn't cause it.
The airship had become charges with static electricity as a result of and electric storm. A broken wire or sticking gas valve leaked hydrogen into the ventilation shaft. When the ground crew members ran out to take the landing ropes, the ship became "earthed". Fire appeared in the tail of the airship, igniting the leaking hydrogen.
Now You Know. --Cooter
Showing posts with label airships.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label airships.. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Monday, December 24, 2012
The Titanic's Second Officer Charles Lightoller-- Part 1
Continued from the September 22, 2011,, Spec.com "The truth about the Titanic's sinking."
I wrote about this Aug. 8, 2012 and continued the story Oct. 19th. I promise to finish it before 2013.
This from Wikipedia.
Charles Lightoller commanded the last bridge watch on the doomed Titanic and was the most senior officer to survive. Lightoller was very strict about "women and children first" and only went overboard as the ship slid beneath the waves and survived on an overturned lifeboat.
He was decorated for gallantry as a naval officer in World War I and commanded one of the "little ships at Dunkirk in World War II. Quite a life.
After the Titanic, he became a mate on one of the Titanic's sister ships, the Oceanic. In World War I, the Oceanic became an armed merchant cruiser and Charles was a lieutenant on it. Later he commanded the torpedo boat HMTB 117 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for engaging the Zeppelin L31.
As a result of that action, he was appointed to command the HMS Falcon, a C-Class Torpedo Boat Destroyer. It sank April 1, 1918 after a collision with the trawler John Fitzgerald while both were escorting a convoy in the North Sea. You had to wonder what Lightoller was thinking as his second ship went down.
Then, he was given command of the destroyer HMS Garry and received another Distinguished Service Cross for ramming and sinking the U-boat 110.
And Amazing Life and a Lot of History for One Man. --DaCoot
I wrote about this Aug. 8, 2012 and continued the story Oct. 19th. I promise to finish it before 2013.
This from Wikipedia.
Charles Lightoller commanded the last bridge watch on the doomed Titanic and was the most senior officer to survive. Lightoller was very strict about "women and children first" and only went overboard as the ship slid beneath the waves and survived on an overturned lifeboat.
He was decorated for gallantry as a naval officer in World War I and commanded one of the "little ships at Dunkirk in World War II. Quite a life.
After the Titanic, he became a mate on one of the Titanic's sister ships, the Oceanic. In World War I, the Oceanic became an armed merchant cruiser and Charles was a lieutenant on it. Later he commanded the torpedo boat HMTB 117 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for engaging the Zeppelin L31.
As a result of that action, he was appointed to command the HMS Falcon, a C-Class Torpedo Boat Destroyer. It sank April 1, 1918 after a collision with the trawler John Fitzgerald while both were escorting a convoy in the North Sea. You had to wonder what Lightoller was thinking as his second ship went down.
Then, he was given command of the destroyer HMS Garry and received another Distinguished Service Cross for ramming and sinking the U-boat 110.
And Amazing Life and a Lot of History for One Man. --DaCoot
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
America's Rigid Airships: The USS Shanandoah
From Wikipedia. I listed the six US airships on November 7th.
The Shenandoah was the first of four US Navy rigid airships built 1922-23 at the Lakeland Naval Air Station. The Shenandoah made the first North American crossing by an airship and crashed on its 57th flight.
It was big, at 680 feet long and weighed 36 tons and a range of 5,000 miles and crew of 25. The design was based on the German Zeppelin bomber L-49. Armament consisted of six .30 caliber Lewis machine guns and eight 500 pound bombs.
It was the first airship to use helium instead of hydrogen. The USS Patoka AO-9 fleet oiler was modified to become the Navy's first Airship Tender and had a strong mooring tower installed.
On September 3, 1925, the Shenandoah was caught in a storm and updrafted too high where it was torn apart and crashed to the ground, killing 14.
Today, there is a small private museum in Ava, Ohio. An elementary, junior high and high school near the crash site have athletic teams called the Zeps. A truck stop fifteen miles from the crash site at Old Washington Road )north of I-70 and US-40 was named the Shenandoah Plaza, but it is now closed and scheduled to be torn down.
I'll be going by this area on my upcoming trip on the National Road and may check it out.
I Always Like Watching Dirigibles Or Blimps Or Whatever You Call Them. --Cooter
The Shenandoah was the first of four US Navy rigid airships built 1922-23 at the Lakeland Naval Air Station. The Shenandoah made the first North American crossing by an airship and crashed on its 57th flight.
It was big, at 680 feet long and weighed 36 tons and a range of 5,000 miles and crew of 25. The design was based on the German Zeppelin bomber L-49. Armament consisted of six .30 caliber Lewis machine guns and eight 500 pound bombs.
It was the first airship to use helium instead of hydrogen. The USS Patoka AO-9 fleet oiler was modified to become the Navy's first Airship Tender and had a strong mooring tower installed.
On September 3, 1925, the Shenandoah was caught in a storm and updrafted too high where it was torn apart and crashed to the ground, killing 14.
Today, there is a small private museum in Ava, Ohio. An elementary, junior high and high school near the crash site have athletic teams called the Zeps. A truck stop fifteen miles from the crash site at Old Washington Road )north of I-70 and US-40 was named the Shenandoah Plaza, but it is now closed and scheduled to be torn down.
I'll be going by this area on my upcoming trip on the National Road and may check it out.
I Always Like Watching Dirigibles Or Blimps Or Whatever You Call Them. --Cooter
Monday, May 14, 2012
Death Rained from the Sky
From the May 6th Chicago Tribune's Chicago Flashback by Stephan Benzkofer.
We've all heard the story of the crash of the Hindenburg, but nearly twenty years earlier, an airship also caught fire and crashed in downtown Chicago, killing 13 people.
The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company's Wingfoot Express airship was putting on a show when the 186-foot-long blimp suddenly caught fire and shortly before 5 PM, crashed into the Illinois Trust & Savings Bank at the northeast corner of Jackson Boulevard and LaSalle Street.
Fortunately, the bank had closed to customers earlier, but nearly 150bookkeepers and clerks were still sitting at their desks beneath the vaulted skylight of the two-and-a-half story building when the Express came breaking through and smashed to the floor with two rotary engines and two gas tanks which then exploded.
Eleven people in the bank and two on the blimp died and 26 were injured. Even with all the damage, the bank was open for business the next day.
I'd never heard of this crash.
The Sky Was Really Falling. --DaCoot
We've all heard the story of the crash of the Hindenburg, but nearly twenty years earlier, an airship also caught fire and crashed in downtown Chicago, killing 13 people.
The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company's Wingfoot Express airship was putting on a show when the 186-foot-long blimp suddenly caught fire and shortly before 5 PM, crashed into the Illinois Trust & Savings Bank at the northeast corner of Jackson Boulevard and LaSalle Street.
Fortunately, the bank had closed to customers earlier, but nearly 150bookkeepers and clerks were still sitting at their desks beneath the vaulted skylight of the two-and-a-half story building when the Express came breaking through and smashed to the floor with two rotary engines and two gas tanks which then exploded.
Eleven people in the bank and two on the blimp died and 26 were injured. Even with all the damage, the bank was open for business the next day.
I'd never heard of this crash.
The Sky Was Really Falling. --DaCoot
75th Anniversary of Hindenburg Crash
This anniversary went almost unnoticed for me, but there was an articke in the May 6th Chicago Tribune Chicago Flashback page "Chicago radio man's Hunderburg broadcast endures" by Stephan Benzkofer.
A wire service photographer was taking pictures that day, May 6, 1937, when the world's largest airship, the Hindenburg exploded as it tried to moor in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-five people were killed immediately and one died later.
This gave us that famous photo. But just as famous was Chicago's WLS radio man Herb Morrison's very human account. He was able to persuade his bosses to let him go to test out some new radio equipment. His account became one of the most famous of all time: "It's burst into flames. ...Get out of the way, please; oh my, this is terrible. ...It is burning. ...This is one of the worst catastrophes in the world... oh, the humanity!"
His voice is high-pitched on the recording, even though he was noted for his deep voice. The recording was made at the wrong speed which accounts for it.
I can never get the "WKRP in Cincinnati" episode out of my head when they were tossing love turkeys out of a helicopter and Les Nessman, winner of the Silver Sow Award was doing a live broadcast from the shopping center's parking lot.
"As God as My Witness, I Thought Turkeys Could Fly." --Cooter
A wire service photographer was taking pictures that day, May 6, 1937, when the world's largest airship, the Hindenburg exploded as it tried to moor in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-five people were killed immediately and one died later.
This gave us that famous photo. But just as famous was Chicago's WLS radio man Herb Morrison's very human account. He was able to persuade his bosses to let him go to test out some new radio equipment. His account became one of the most famous of all time: "It's burst into flames. ...Get out of the way, please; oh my, this is terrible. ...It is burning. ...This is one of the worst catastrophes in the world... oh, the humanity!"
His voice is high-pitched on the recording, even though he was noted for his deep voice. The recording was made at the wrong speed which accounts for it.
I can never get the "WKRP in Cincinnati" episode out of my head when they were tossing love turkeys out of a helicopter and Les Nessman, winner of the Silver Sow Award was doing a live broadcast from the shopping center's parking lot.
"As God as My Witness, I Thought Turkeys Could Fly." --Cooter
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