Did you know the Hindenburg disaster wasn’t solved until recently? Yeah, apparently it was a mystery for 76 years until just now.
“The iconic airship had reportedly become charged with static as a result of the electrical storm and broken wire or a sticking gas valve leaked the hydrogen into the ventilation shafts,” reported the Daily Mail. “When ground crew members ran to take the landing ropes they effectively ‘earthed’ the airship, causing a spark. The fire is believed to have started on the tail of the airship, igniting the leaking hydrogen.”
British aeronautical engineer Jem Stansfield and a team of researchers based in San Antonio were the ones to make the discovery.
“Stansfield and his team said the goal of their experiments, which are the subject of a British Channel 4 documentary to be aired on Thursday, was to rule out theories ranging from a planted bomb to explosive properties in the paint used on the Hindenburg,” said a report from The Telegraph.
We had no idea this was, like, an unsolved mystery. A newspaper in New Jersey is sort of trying to take credit for the static electricity hypothesis.
“A May 2012 Star-Ledger story said that static electricity was one of the leading theories to explain the explosion: ‘Three-quarters of a century later, an exact cause for the disaster still isn’t known, though theories abound. Everything from the common hypothesis that a ‘static spark’ ignited volatile hydrogen gas that had leaked, to the theory — put out in a 1975 disaster genre flick starring George C. Scott and Anne Bancroft — that a rigger sabotaged the airship to blow up what was becoming a powerful Nazi propaganda symbol, complete with swastikas on its tail fins. Whatever caused it, the disaster essentially ended the giant airship era and provided a gloomy lead-up to World War II.’”
Like, listen, media. We’re pretty sure literally everyone agreed the Hindenburg was brought down by an explosion of hydrogen because that is an obvious fact. Explosions are also created by some sort of ignition.
So, don’t try to look like some sort of scientist genius just because your paper reported one year ago about the theory of static shock. Also, why is a documentary about the Hindenburg even happening at all? Are we still trying out new blimp technology?
No. We suppose we’re just solving more and more of these “unsolved” mysteries. We doubt we’re going to try to create the perfect blimp at this point, as there’s hardly enough money to go around the space explorations of our generation.
Not only was the explosion horrific, but, as Time notes, it was also “one of the first disasters to be captured in real time — on film, in photos and on the radio (not to mention immortalized in Led Zeppelin album cover art).”
“Possible theories ranged from lightning to a saboteur’s bomb,” continued the article, “planted in an attempt to destabilize Hitler’s Nazi regime.”
The documentary probably explains more about the science behind this discovery, but what a wide range of theories — from Nazi bombs to static shock.
To that end, we’re glad they discovered the real cause.
