Evening Star Newspaper, May 7, 1937, Page 7

HYDROGEN ALONE BLAMED IN BLAST Use of Helium Would Have Averted Disaster, Ex- perts Think. Had the Hindenburg been inflated | with helium. now being produced | only in the United States, last night's | disaster probably would not have oc- | curred or would have been confined to minur damage without loss of life, in the opinion of aviation officials | here. Even while fire raged through the Hindenburg's gas cells, inflated with | explosive, terribly inflammable hy- | drogen, there was pending before Con- gress a bill which would have sim- plified arrangements for the exporta- tion and sale of non-inflammable 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 Committee, which held robably f the Bureau of Mines g 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 hough the law does not absol y prohibit such foreign sale, it tablished such rigid restrictions about exportation that so far no country has sought to buy it. The Hindenburg, it is understood, originally was to have used a com- bination of helium and hydrogen The plan never went through, how- | ever, and all of her 16 Ili | contained hydrogen last nig! In a report issued at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station la time the Hinden trip to the U St Dazed Survivors Of Crash Mumble Stories of Escape “lI Jumped—and I'm Alive,” Stunned Ger- man Keeps Repeating. By the Assoclated Press. LAKEHURST, N. J, May 7— Alfred Groeinzer, 20-year-old chef on the Hindenburg, shut his eyes and leaped just before the great ship sank to earth, a blazing wreck “I jumped,” he kept repeating dazed- ly, in German, when he was placed on 2 hospital bed. “I jumped—and I'm alive! He was only slightly injured, but was suffering from shock. The man in the next bed, George Grant, 63, of London, badly bruised and his leg broken, managed to grin, “I'm alive, too. Thank God!"” Most of the passengers and crew who escaped death in the disaster were too stunned to talk. Some lay silent for hours. “It was a terrible sight,” sald E. C. A voiee mean significant paragraph ‘It 1s plann {nflation me becomes available to o the United States. Consequently the Germans have pl cells for the H clude sm hydrogen, w burg which in: interior cells to conta ch may be valved fre factors requir rounded by helium, this use of hydro- gen should be entirely safe. T ant gas from which the st its lifting capacity is contained in 16 individual cells placed end end having a total volume of 7.060.000 cubic feet. The gas ceil material is a specially developed cotton cloth im- pregnated with a 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 balioons and non-rigid airships The Government plant during this period increased its output to a maxi- mum of 15.000,000 cubic feet a year. Since the loss of the Akron and Ma- con, output has dropped to 5,000,000. This is used in the veteran Los Angeles, former German airsh now in non-flying status, but bel 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 piant has a maxi- mum capacity of 24,000,000 cubi a year in case of necessity. The he is found in deposits of natu: is refined by freezing out all the otk gasses, helium being the la. The Government has a heliu ing fleld of natural gas covering snom acres “bottled up” for future use, it was explained ‘The Hindenburg disaste interrupt the construct airships, in the opinion of Charles I’ 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- ning. He was a passenger on the Graf Zeppelin in 1929 as an official nb«r\e" for the Navy Impure Hydrogen Blamed. “Undoubtedly, impure hydrogen gas in one of the cells caus Burgess was only one explosin after the craft burned. Apparently whole ship did not explode at once. Pure hydrogen itself does mnot 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-air craft. There is no reason 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- | &hips.” Burgess characterized as “bunk” statements that the Hindenburg dis- aster proves that airships are no good; that the it only proves that use of h)d—ngcn\ e 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 | her scheduled June 5 tri) MOTHER’S DAY Glft Suggestions Raleigh Hosiery. 83c to $1.35 Archer Hosiery 85¢ to $1.65 One Hundred Grand Hosiery, $1.55 Linen Handkerchiefs____25¢c to $1 Gift Bags _._ --$3to $5 Linen Blouses Gift Scarfs __ Costume Jewelry__ Silk- Gowns Silk Slips Negligees, 53 to $7.95 $1.95 to $3.50 Housecoats, $4.50 to $10.95 Station-10° = Person cal SUN — @ EVENI Harard of Pinewald, N. J, son of Physician who rushed with nurses to the scene of the wreck. “It looked as if a lot of them burned right up. I don’t know how anybody 8ot out. “It was good fortune that some were blown right out the windows. “I saw one passenger walking around | the fleld afterward in a trance. ““Their clothes were torn and burned 80 much that what was left had to be cut off.” The first concern of those who escaped was the worry of their fami- lies. Hans Hugo Velt, a member of the | crew, dispatched from his hospital | bed a jubilant cable, “I'm well,” to his wife and child in Prussia. Philip Mangone of New York, who was not seriously injured, received telegrams from his friends, “Congratu- lations on your miraculous escape.” A crowd milled all night in the Lake- | hurst hangar as the names of dead and survivors went up on a bulletin board. Lights from a revolving beam over the hangar swung at intervals over olusters of grave-faced men and State troopers. | Occasionally there was the wail of inn ambulance siren and the stars I'shone down in the mild Spring night visit will ) m“"h 10 “‘l 10 )0“' . are in effect o8 both n10° (ation and Perso’ 1s ANY TIMEBASS INDAY SAVE AFTER SEVEN The CHESAPEAKE and POTOMAC TELEPHONE Co. 3 HABERDA S \ BERDASHER eBIG THRE “ N 21 STYLES Black-and-white, tan-and-white All white in wing tips, half brogues and plain Ventilated models and golf shoes in- toe styles. cluded. Sizes 5 to 12, AA to E. IN RALEIGH “8" SHOES $5.50 Others to $6.85 n wing tips. Exclusive at Raleigh Haberdasher HANAN TOUCH Fine, easily cleaned buckskin, tan and white, all white; in wing half brogue styles. AA to E, 5'2 to 12. Exclusive at Ra HANAN Custom Summer shoes in celSto 12 Exclusive at Ra Raleigh Haberdosher‘ Black and white, Vc!ues far beyond their price. biack-and-white, white or all, white. . 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DODGE REMAINS in charge of the patriotic mecca for 52 years, will miss the first meeting Suffered C - e apoey Siemmor It will be the first meeting he has rhage Saturday. missed was stricken with a cerebral hemor-| Northern Ireland has taken all male rhage at his desk in the nationallteachers from schools at Derry. 5pec1a/s I& " @ ) of the Peanut 5fore FILLED WITH FRESH comfort for the hot summer ohead. The weather man won't - and put it in your pocket . . . it will come up grinning, bounce who insists on being well dressed despite the knock-out punch Old condition is about the same.” IN CRITICAL CONDITION of the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Asso- Col. Harrison H. Dodge, 85-year-old | 1885. N u Ts need to pull his punches, the right back into shape to meet the Sol serves Washington all summer. 15th St. N.W. 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