Evening star., 1937-05-23
ECKENER B[AMES
SPARK FROM sky
Broken Brace Wire Also
Cited as Probable Cause of
Blast of Hindenburg.
~ the Associated Press.

- the Associated Press.
1AKEHURST, N. j., May IA
spark from the sky and 4 broken
brace wire-these two things, DR..
Hugo Eckener said today-were the
probable causes Of the flaming disas-
ter which overlook the majestic
Hindenburg on May 6.
The veteran German Zeppelin mas
ter acknowledged that his theory
called for the coincidence OF two ex-
tremely remote possibilities to ac-
count for the holocaust in which 36
died, but he told the Commerce De-
partment Investigation Board:
Since the whole occurance is OK
tremely mysterious, we must pro-
ceed along these lines"
It was the consensus Of eyewit-
hesses, he pointed out, that the first
1ire broke out in the stern Of the ship.
Prom this we conclude that there
must have been free gas in the rear
section OF the ship" he said.
Gas Cell Held Punctured.
The only likely explanation for this
free gas, he went on. was that a brace
wire had snapped few minutes be-
fore, puncturing an aft gas cell and
causing q sudden leak The sharp
turn the Hindenburg had just made
In her landing maueuvers would have
created sharp structural tension,
especially near the stern wires. he
said.
The gas leak, he indicated, prob
ably occurred only short time before
flames enveloped the ship, for other
wise the loss OF buoyancy would have
been 50 great it would have been
noticed in the control car, and 1t
would have been quite impossible
to operate the ship In such bad trim
for any length of time, he said.
The spark of static electricity that
probably ignited the free, highly in
flammable hydrogen came at this
moment. DR.. Eckner said he believed
likely, from the air masses overhead.
Tail Held Spark-Cause.
It was his opinion, he explained,
that the thunderstorm which delayed
the Hindenburg's landing May was
followed by tail" which probably
went unnoticed at the landing field
where all attention was focused on
the approaching ship.
This storm tail, he theorized further,
generated a sleeper potential gradient,
that is increased the voltages in the
atmospheric layer between the ship
and the air masses above it, When
the difference Of voltage between the
ship and the more highly charged
masses overhead became too great,
he said, the fatal spark could have
resulted.
1t was also possible, he said, that
the discharge Of the zeppelin's static
to the ground by landing ropes could
have further increased the ditferential
between the ship and the charged air
masses overhead.
Other Theories Dismissed.
The tall, stopped doctor who is re-
garded as the worlds leading author
ity on lighter-than-air craft, dis
missed all other theories on how the
gas could be ignited as either i'm
possible" and improbable"
The question of sabotage WAS put
to him, and he answered with shrug
that there were no definite clues to
support such belief and he could
regard 1t only as theoretical pos
sibility.
It took DR.. Eckener more than two
hours to tell the committee of the de-
ductions he had made from the eV-
dence given during the last two weeks.
When he concluded his testimony, he
said he would go to Washington to-
morrow, apparently to open negotla-
tions for obtaining -inlammable
helium for future use in German COM
mercial dirigibles. The hearing ad-
journed until Monday.