How Was The Hindenburg Driven?

Not really sure. The weight of the early parachutes for a crew of 40-50 was probably one reason…..plus, I’m sure they were worried about what sort of reception they would receive if they did parachute into Britain from a zeppelin.

Bombing of civilian targets was seen as piracy…..they would probably have been lynched!

Germans had real problems with material for parachutes. Still had them during WW2.
And chutes were seen as effeminated and cowardly till late in the war.

Lynching – I don’t know. Maybe when freshly caught, probably not.
http://www.essex.police.uk/offbeat/o_mu_20.php
Btw, Zeppelins were not only lost in the West, but also on the Russian front and down south on the Balkans.

wow the bit about the water ballest bag bursting on them just in time is amazing, one of those little facts i bet i will always remember now when seeing that famous bit of footage,very cool!

I read accounts that Werner Franz, a 14-year-old cabin boy on the Hindenburg credits his survival to being drenched from a burst water ballast bag just before escaped.

thats odd why didnt they carry parachutes…

Not really sure. The weight of the early parachutes for a crew of 40-50 was probably one reason…..plus, I’m sure they were worried about what sort of reception they would receive if they did parachute into Britain from a zeppelin.

Bombing of civilian targets was seen as piracy…..they would probably have been lynched!

The US Navy lost 3 of their rigids to wheather………they all had helium…..made no real difference…….Akron, and Makon had hangers for 3 to five small fighter planes/scouts. But the civil ships…..just pure luxery! Graf Zeppelin could comfortably carry 20…2 to a cabin…..Hindenburg 50, after they gave up on gettin helium. Even R100 and R101 had FANTASTIC passenger accomodations…

Why not try google images http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&hl=en&safe=off&q=%22hindenburg%22+%2B%22cabin%22?

thanks

wow the bit about the water ballest bag bursting on them just in time is amazing, one of those little facts i bet i will always remember now when seeing that famous bit of footage,very cool!

The point about the envelope material is particularly salient as it seems that the original material had been doped with a mixture containing aluminium powder and iron oxide to conduct static electricity acros the envelope and ensure that it was completely earthed when she was docked.

Although it cannot be proved that this was the cause of the initial fire, it’s worth pointing out that aluminium-iron oxide mixtures have a generic name.

Thermite.

If it was a static discharge causing the envelope to ignite, as has been hypothesised, from that instant she was doomed by a self-propogating, violently exothermic reaction. This is bad thing in a vehicle containing hydrogen in bags… Of course, a similar reaction would alo occur if the Hydrogen had ignited first!

Adrian

Pictures
http://deventer.ch/Historical/KapitelZeppelin.html

@ internal structure: That was almost optimal. Basically couldn’t do any better today with CAE software. All lightweight aluminum alloy. The gas bags could have benefited from modern plastics foil, as well as the outer canvas. And of course the Maybach engines were very heavy, but also pretty efficient. Btw, only LZ129 used Diesel engines, all the others ran on gasoline or Blaugas (which had the same specific weight as hydrogen and thus was weight-neutral when consumed).

What i personally always find most amazing about the whole hindenburg crash is how people managed to survive!

Almost certainly because she fell relatively slowly, due to the bouyancy of the (as yet…) unburnt hydrogen, and not from any great altitude. The Zeppelin that crashed at Theberton – http://www.fairmile.fsbusiness.co.uk/imageszepp/zepl48theb.jpg – fell from a greater height, and as you can see the structure of one end remained relatively intact because of the slow fall. In this case, three of the crew survived. There are also other factors – in at least one airship disaster, someone credited their survival to a water ballast bag bursting on them, temporarily quenching the flamea around them long enough for them to escape.

But yes, it’s still astonishing!

Adrian

For crying out loud don’t tell Low’n’slow! The last thing he needs to play with is RATO! 😀

Adrian

I particularly liked this one 😀

Looking for information on incendiary bullets I found this brilliant and interesting page.

http://www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation%20history/airplane%20at%20war/nocturnal%20defence.htm

Moggy

What i personally always find most amazing about the whole hindenburg crash is how people managed to survive! i mean outa all the crashes i’ve seen recored on t.v that ones about the most amazing still i think, musta been terrifying to see!

true true.. i was just thinking you mite of been able to of seen it from of miles away cause of the size of the flames in the sky

What i personally always find most amazing about the whole hindenburg crash is how people managed to survive! i mean outa all the crashes i’ve seen recored on t.v that ones about the most amazing still i think, musta been terrifying to see!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F54rqDh2mWA thats some crazy footage there, run forest run!

Some zeppelins were damaged by anti-aircraft fire (and / or the weather) and crash landed in Britain (were they would be burnt by their crews), the continent or the sea.

The key issue was the development of 303 incendiary ammunition (Pomeroy?) for British fighter aircraft. Before that it was relatively difficult to set a zeppelin on fire; the holes in gasbags caused by standard 303 ammunition would have no effect.

Zeppelin crews did not carry parachutes! So, as has been said, if the hydrogen was set alight usually the entire crew would be killed.

thats odd to why they didnt carry parachutes… its a shame they werent stronger.. probably nowdays they could make them alot better, and withstand alot more

I fear the internal structure would have been better used building a bridge.

probably u know

And there was me thinking you blew into one end then let it go 😀

loool

Hi
How was the Hindenburg driven…

by Four 1200-bhp LOF 6 diesel engines

http://www.mtu-online.com/en/abou/abouhist/abouhistzepp/

cheers
Jerry

wicked.. those must of been powerful?

How was the Hindenberg driven?….. by a german with a steering wheel…

coat, door, etc etc

did it loook abit like a ships steering wheel?

This does belong in Historical. That being said………Hindenburg, probably the best “Zep” design, could do bout 81-82 mph…….probably a bit more with a tail wind, less with a head wind. They used a combination of ballast, engine power, and aerodynamics to “go up”……..control was something of a nightmare I imagine. They had no “pilot” per say……there was a helmsman, and a planesman (elevators), engines were controled by telegraphs much like a ship at sea……..damage control on a wartime “zep”? Mechanics road in each engine gondola….and crewmen could repair rips in the outer fabric…..but…….if a gas cell ignited…….canncel christmas!

i seee