The Hindenburg Lives Again!

[Travis]

She took off from my home base (somewhere in California) and took a short ride for a few publicity photos early this afternoon.

The Hindenburg (LZ-129) schedule goes from Frankfurt, Germany to Lakehurst, New Jersey approximately every 6 to 7 days.

You can catch her here, taking a small refueling stop on her way back over the Atlantic.








When (and if ) she makes it back, there will be more pictures.  Until then, keep your eyes to the skies . . .

[jordonj]

I think I remember hearing that part of the reason the Hindenberg went up in flames so much is because the outer skin was made of Magnesium (or some other highly flammable paintm choosen for its shiny properties).  This in addition to the hydrogen (also highly flammable).

Anyone else know anthing about this?

[Fly2e]

I heard it started in the cigar bar by a chap named Ozzy!  ;)

Dave

[Iroquois]

Neat. Where's it from?

[Gixer]

Nice shots.  I cant remeber what caused the fire though the Hydrogen cas certainley would have been enough on its own.  The metal structure could possibly have been magnesium alloy?  as its very light weight (Its used on motor cycle casings because of this)

[Travis]

Neat. Where's it from?

I made it.  I'm still working on it.  Needs some more work in the VC and the airfile, but I really like how the model itself has turned out.

[jordonj]

Wow! nice work!

[jordonj]

I did a little checking and found that it was indeed the magnesium paint (chosen for its luster) that caused the extremely volatile fire.  Hydrogen burns clean with no color or smoke (not what you see in the photos).

Also, as shown in film, the Hindenburg was flying as it was burning.  If the hydrogen had been escaping and burning, the Hindenburg would have crashed like a stone much sooner than it did...and even it did so slowly when the fire reached the fuel cells...

More information here.

[SomeGuy]

[quote]I think I remember hearing that part of the reason the Hindenberg went up in flames so much is because the outer skin was made of Magnesium (or some other highly flammable paintm choosen for its shiny properties).

[Shadowe]

nice shots where u get it?

[jordonj]

The anti-static panels would have been quickly filled up and would have startded producing sparks. As soon as a spark touched that paint, you had an unstoppable fire.

That is consistent with what I remember hearing...I don't remember the lightning though...

[PSW]

One reason I heard of is that an electric cable sprung lose and ignited the hydrogen-filled airship, which then KABOOMed ! Magnesium + Hydrogen = THE DEADLY DUO and I think the duo has a lot behind their back on the Hinderburg !


Thanks,
james

[SomeGuy]

That is consistent with what I remember hearing...I don't remember the lightning though...

It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with lightning. What happens when thunder storms are in the area is negative ions build up in the atmosphere, while positive ions build up in the ground. This is also known as static electricity. Just like in a magnet, opposites like to be with eachother. Since the negative ions can move around easier than the positive ones, they can "jump" from a place of higher negative energy to a place of higher positive energy. The only thing that lighning has to to with it is the fact that what we call lightning is when an increadibly large number of -ions jump to +ions either in another cloud or in the ground.
Of course, the -ions don't always have to jump in large groups, they can "migrate" individualy to things like, say the anti-static panels of a hydrogen airship which were designed to attract and hold stray -ions so they wouldn't create sparks. If there are enough ions like there are when T-storms are in the area, the panels can become full. When the panels become too full, the -ions will jump to a place of a lower concentration like any other part of the airship, and when, that spark touches that paint, no matter how small it is, you get a rather large bon fire really, really fast.

[ozzy72]

That is looking great Ender. The only problem I have with dirigibles is every time I see one I want to make jokes like "ribbed for her pleasure"
Maybe I'll got past puberty one of these days

[Travis]

That is looking great Ender. The only problem I have with dirigibles is every time I see one I want to make jokes like "ribbed for her pleasure"
Maybe I'll got past puberty one of these days

Oh, lord . . .

Anyway . . .

I'm having mass amounts of trouble getting it sent to my second computer, so it may never come into being.

So much for the Hindenburg's Return, eh?