Show UAnA WHY DID THE HINDENBURG CRASH Cause Is Still Uncertain Though Use of Helium Would Have Prevented It But Uncle Sam Owns All the Helium I Dy By WILLIAM I C. C UTLEY THERE THERE THERE must be no more 1 1 flying with hydrogen We must make an about face We must use helium Thus spoke Dr Hugo Eckener he who Is known as the worlds world's greatest great great- est eat authority on than lighter i 1 r craft cratt after being informed that Germanys Germany's proud prot had crashed upon c completing com o an- an her maiden 1937 1837 Atlantic crossing at Lakehurst N N. J. J There have been several theories advanced as possible causes of the disaster but no one Is yet sure which is the correct one and it is doubtful if anyone ever will be Sabotage was suggested merely that no possibility be overlooked and Immediately rejected It might have been static electricity electric electric- ity which set ofT oil the highly explosive ex cx- plosive hydrogen gas All aircraft are apt to accumulate it it especially when flying through or near a thun thun- But this seems unlikely inthe in inthe inthe the case of the Hindenburg for her ground lines had been down three minutes before belore the crash and presumably pre all charges of static electricity elec would have passed into the earth Spontaneous Combustion Another theory more complicated than the others was that of Prof Prot Otto Stern of Carnegie Institute of Technology and formerly connected connect connect- ed with the Zeppelin works In Ger Ger- many Professor Stern expressed wonderment that the accident had hadnot hadnot hadnot not happened sooner due to peculiar peculiar peculiar liar action of the proton of the hydrogen hy drogen atom The hydrogen proton he explained explained ex ex- ex Is charged with positive electricity which is offset by a charge of negative electricity in the electron which covers the proton like a shell When the gas is leaking under pressure many of the protons pro pro- tons lose their electrons and race madly about seeking new ones This causes spontaneous combustion So rapidly did the flames engulf the ship the versions of witnesses as to the cause were varied fire swept from one end of the Hindenburg Hinden burg to the other in 32 seconds Several insisted however the rear port engine was throwing sparks from Its exhaust as the ship came cameto to the mooring mast The theory considered most probable at the time of this writing is that these sparks whipped by the wind peril per il h hap a p s ignited hydrogen being out as the ship came down It is customary to valve gas in landing Whether one of the conditions cit ed in this brief review was the cause of the explosion or whether the true cause has not yet even been suggested one thing is certain cere tam tain An explosion of the highly Inflammable hydrogen gas wrecked the airship And no such explosion could have occurred had the Hindenburg Hin un- denburg been filled with inert noninflammable noninflammable non- non inflammable helium gas Thereby hangs bangs a tale The Germans are the only nation which has continued to make progress progress progress ress with than lIghter air craft The United States abandoned it when a series of dirigible crashes culminated ed in the loss of the Ma Macon con of ofT off Point Sur California February 12 1934 Great Britain said No more dirigibles when the R crashed October 4 1930 with 46 on board Including prominent ministers at Beauvais France France forsook Employees of the United States bureau of mines at work In the he cryogenic laboratory where research data necessary for helium production lion ion and purification are developed On the present basis our government government govern govern- ment is not permitting other nations nations na na- na to buy its helium despite the fact that our navy is without airships air ships to use it The only airship we have left the Los Angeles which Germany turned over to us as part of the spoils of war Is over age decommissioned and In hangar at Lakehurst Hydrogen the lightest gas known is the most practical for airships except for the fact that it Is also one of the most explosive things on r- r 1 t t Dr Hugo Eckener Zeppelin expert ex cx- pert who says all airships must DOW now be Inflated with helium earth when mixed with air In the right proportion Helium has not quite the lift of hydrogen but it is safe He lIe 4 4 as helium Is known by its chemical formula is described as asan asan asan an inert non oJ non colorless gaseous element of density Sir Norman Lockyer was the first to discover it During the eclipse of 1868 he be detected its existence in the sun it was a bright yellow line in inthe inthe inthe the solar spectrum which could not be associated with the spectrum of L r t-i t r. r r I I 4 0 i L wi io compression loa building of Uncle Sams Sam's helium plant at the Interior of compress in the foreground holds bolds about IK 1 Each of the cylinders Amarillo TeXAs m of or the Hindenburg was cubic feet feet The It would have taken to fill flU the airship Imagine the be number o of cylinders cylinder to capacity I airships airshiP when the disappeared disappeared December 21 21 1923 presumably ably having been destroyed by light lightning lightning ning over the Mediterranean U. U S. S Owns All 11 Helium But the Hindenburg accident ha convinced the Germans that the can no longer operate their ship with hydrogen And where are the obtain helium The United State has to a monopoly on all aU the world natura nature in American helium Only helium exist in gas Ras does to extract and fill airships airship C 0 L a il t FL any element then known lie He suggested suggested sug sug- the name for the element which is taken from hello helios the Greek word for sun SUD In 1895 1893 Sir William S found that when the mineral I was decomposed by acid it gave gaveS S of oft off a gas which would not combine with oxygen to burn Further S when examined by 5 means of an electric discharge It itI I sh showed shOed o ed a bright yellow spectral t line which Sir William identified i. i with that which Lockyer bad had found In the solar spectrum lie He assigned to the new element the name which Lockyer had suggested for It Germans Lucky In Past The United States with her plenteous plen plea supply of helium has haa used It in iii operating her airships but the Germans have always alway b bee been e a n a slightly skeptical about the American Ameri Amen can enthusiasm for the gas It Is next to hydrogen the lightest gas known yet its pay load efficiency is 20 per cent less Despite this fact hydrogen costs about per 1000 cubic feet as against many times that amount for helium At that rate it cant can't be wasted cheerfully In hi maneuvering a ship Up to the time of the Hindenburg crash the Germans had been very expert expert and and not a UtU little lucky lucky lucky-In in handling their many airships without without with with- out losses due to fire and explosion The Hindenburg was the of a noble lino line the official number of the ship was LZ 12 Of her predecessors 10 were never completed 25 were lost by storm and accident C 6 by causes cause unknown 21 were dismantled 40 46 were wrecked by the war 11 were turned over to the Allies after the war and 7 1 were sabotaged that they need not be surrendered The Graf Zeppelin and the Los Angeles are the only ones left The old Graf carries on like the veteran she is her comings and goings between Germany and South America hardly occasioning comment com corn ment any more She landed a t Frankfort from Rio de Janiero the day after the disaster with 23 passengers passengers pas pas- and was immediately grounded Indefinitely She will not Dot take of off again without helium Before the World war helium was worth hundreds of dollars per cubic foot It was obtained from minerals such as monazite monazite mo- mo and other radioactive radioactive radio radio- active minerals as well as t the ii e used by Ramsay Ramsey But it was not until war-time war that the United States bureau of mines mine I solved the problem of producing it from natural gas in quantities sufficient to inflate giant airships The victory of the bureau is considered considered con con- an epic of science clence The first war-time war helium plant was at Petrolia Texas but the compressors and other apparatus for extraction were later moved to Amarillo a better location Here the government has a complete plant producing helium from a gas gasfield gasfield gasfield field which is one of the worlds world's I richest in the inert noninflammable non I ble bie gas I Nazis Nan Never Enthusiastic In addition sighted far-sighted Uncle Sam has established helium reserves in just the way that he be has oil all re reo serves In the past pat steps have been taken to permit the sale of Uncle Sams Sam's helium to Nazi Germany to Insure the safety of airship flight but Germany Germany Ger Ger- many had never been overanxious or insistent Indeed one version has hasit hasit hasit it that the United States offered helium to the Zeppelin company bl but t certa certain 1 German experts considered con con- the expense of the thc safer gas too great for commercial use and furthermore cited the greater reater lilting lifting power of hydrogen The President has been given discretionary die dis power to sell helium to a foreign nation if he has haa the recommendation recommendation recommendation rec rec- of the secretaries of interior war and navy According to Watson Davis director director di dl rector of Science Service to whom the writer is i. indebted for much of his information There is i. admittedly admitted admitted- ly Iy a war angle to this question of whether America should relinquish even to a limited extent its nature nature- given monopoly of helium But there theore was a growing feeling that the airship airship air air- ship line across the Atlantic should be made as safe as possible That would mean extending to Germany the courtesy of helium just as the navy has given them the facilities of ot its Lakehurst airship station the only suitable landing field for airships airships air air- ships ship in eastern United States C O Western Newspaper Union |