Evening star., 1937-05-07
HYDROGEN ALONE
BLAMED IN BLAST
Use of HeIium Would Have
AVerted Disaster, Ex-
pertS Think.

Had the Hindenburg been inflated
With helium. now being produced
only in the United States, last nights
disaster probably would not have oc-
CURED or would have been confined
to minor damage without loss of life,
In the opinion of aviation officials
here
Even while fire ragged through the
Hindenburg's gas cells, inflated with
explosive, terribly inf1ammable hy-
drogen, there was pending before Con-
gress bill which would have SIM
plifled arrangements for the exporta-
ton and sale of non-inf1ammable
helium gas to Germany.
This bill, introduced by Repre-
sentative Hill of Alabama at the re-
quest of officials of the Interior De-
partment, which is charged with the
production of helium gas, now is pend
ing before a subcommittee of the
House Military Affairs Committee
which held hearings recently and
probably will take further testimony
from officials of the Bureau of Mines
before taking final action
No Foreign Sale Since 1925.
Since March 3. 1925, when the pres
ent Federal helium law was enacted,
there has been virtually no foreign
sale Of the gas. Although the law
does not absolutely prohibit such
foreign sale, it established such rigid
restrictions about expectation that so
far no country has sought to buy it.
The Hindenburg, it is understood
originally was to have used COM
blnation of helium and hydrogen.
The plan never went through, how
ever, and all of her l6 lifting cells
contained hydrogen last night.
In report issued at the Jakehurst
Naval Air Station last year at the
time the Hindenburg made her first
trip to the United States, appear a
significant paragraph:
1T is planned to use helium as the
imitation medium of this ship when it
becomes available to operators outside
the United States. Consequently the
Germans have planned a set of gas
cells for the Hindenburg which in
hydrogen, which may be Waived freely
to reduce the buoyancy if operating
factors require it. Completely sur
rounded by hellum, this Use of HYDRO
gen should be entirely safe. The buoy
ant gas from which the ship obtains
Its lifting capacity is contained in Is
individual cells placed end to end
having total volume of 1850 900
cubic feet. The gas cell material is
a specially developed cotton cloth I'M
pregnated with gas-tight sealing
material
Helium Output Reserved.
While the United States Navy was
engaged in the operation of its giant
dirigibles, the Shenandoah, Los An
geles, Akron and Macon. the entire
output of the Government helium
plant, operated by the Bureau of
Mines, was reserved for these ships,
except for small amounts sold to the
Goodyear Zeppelin Corp, for its small
non-rigid airships of the type oper-
ated over Washington. The Army also
obtained relatively small amounts for
balloons and non-rigid airsh!ps.
The Government plant during this
period increased its output to maxi
mum of 100000 cubic feet year.
Since the loss of the Akron and Ma
con. output has dropped to 100000.
This is used in the veteran Los
Angeles, former German airship, now
in non-fying status. but being used
by the Navy for mooring and ground
handling tests, and in smaller Army
and Navy ships and the blimps of the
Goodyear fleet,
The Government plant has maxi
mum capacity of 240Oo,OOO cubic feet
year in case of necessity. The helium
is found in deposits of natur gas and
is refined by freezing out all the other
gases, helium being the last to liQuefv.
The Government has helium- bear
ing field of natural gas covering 10000
acres bottled up" for future use, it
was explained
The Hindenburg disaster should not
interrupt the construction Of helium
airships, in the opinion of Charles P
Burgess, principal engineer in the
Navy Bureau of Aeronautics. who is
attached to the airship design group
and has followed the development Of
that type of aircraft since the Begin
ming. He was passenger on the Graf
Zeppelin in 1929 as an official observer
for the Navy.
Impure Hydrogen Blamed.
Undoubtedly, impure hydrogen gas
In one of the cells caused the ex-
plosion," Burgess declared There
was only one explosion after that
the craft burned. Apparently the
whole ship did not explode at once.
Pure hydrogen itself does not ex-
plode-it has to be mixed with air
first.
THE tragedy shows that the Navy
Department is entirely correct in using
helium exclusively in lighter -than-alr
craft. There is no reason why de-
velopment of this type Of craft should
not continue. This disaster was due
entirely to hydrogen and it is not an
indictment against helium- filled air
ships"
Burgess characterized as bunk"
statements that the Hindenburg dis
aster proves that airships are no good;
1t only proves that use of hydrogen
Is inadvisable, he said
Burgess, who has been in the Navy
Bureau of Aeronautics for the past
20 years, was planning to return to
Germany aboard the Hindenburg on