Herb Morrison reporting, 70 years ago today.
Thirty-six were killed — 13 of the 36 passengers, 22 of the 61 crew, and one ground crew member.
The Hindenburg did not explode because it was filled with hydrogen as long thought. The outer skin of the big German aircraft — longer than three 747s — was painted with an iron oxide, powdered aluminum compound to reflect sunlight (to minimize heat build up). The powdered aluminum was highly flammable and was ignited by an electrostatic charge in the imperfectly grounded zeppelin.
How flammable is iron oxide and aluminum? It’s the fuel used to launch the Shuttle.
the entry at wikipedia is fascinating, and conveys in itself a degree of the tension
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Morrison
wikipedia articles tend to collect interesting bits of relevant factoids, but there is no mention of captain beefheart’s inspiration for “The Blimp”